Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: FAILURE TO CONNECT: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds -- and What We Can Do About It by Jane M. Healy ISBN: 0-684-85539-9 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.52 (21 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: computers and children
Comment: Do computers have a place in our homes and schools for young children? Is it wise to encourage such use by youngsters? This is a debate that is getting a lot of attention.
Jane Healy, Ph.D., has been an educator for more than 35 years, including experience as a classroom teacher, elementary school administrator, and college professor. She begins her book with a discussion of how the whole technological revolution is almost of a religious fervor. To research her book, she spent hundreds of hours visiting classrooms and homes to watch kids interact with their computers.
Healy maintains that parents who purchase software for their babies have been sold a bill of goods. She says that there is no evidence that computers and software will make kids smarter. Rather, it may be doing them more harm than good.
In Chapter One, Healy expresses concern about how technology is shaping children's growing brains, saying "The younger the mind, the more malleable it is. The younger the technology is, the more unproven it is." She believes educators - and parents - should carefully consider the potential- and irrevocable - effects of this new electronic technology.
She calls this exposing of young children- generally, babies - age seven or eight -, a "vast and optimistic experiment," and that "It is well financed and enthusiasticlly supported by major corporations, the public at large, and government officials around the world." She says that there is no proof- or even convincing evidence- that it will be successful in enriching our youngster's minds and lives, or that society will benefit and education will be permanently changed for the better.
Far from being a "techno-phobe," Healy was, at one time, a big believer in the benefits of children using computers. But, after her hundreds of hours in the field, "picking the brains" of leaders in the field, and research, she has now come to the conclusion that we are rushing into something with "far too much money with too little thought," saying "It is past time to pause, reflect, and ask some probing questions."
She answers many questions in her book about computer use by children, such as how and when a child should begin using a computer, what kind of software is appropriate for different ages, which ones may be harmful, and why, and how do we balance education and entertainment.
Too often, Healy says, parents are seduced by "the glitz and novelty of this wondrous equipment." She adds that "Experience suggests we should temper our enchantment with a critical look at whether anything educational is really being accomplished."
This is a fascinating look at the effects computers have on children. While she acknowledges that there may be times when computers could be useful, they are seldom as helpful as many believe. She encourages parents and educators to take a long, hard look at what is passing for computer "learning," and to not be beguiled in thinking that our children are are really learning by merely "pressing some buttons."
For parents who are interested, there is a study guide in the back of the book that is helpful for those who wish to have a study group using this book, or to just get more out of it themselves.
Rating: 5
Summary: educational
Comment: Great book. Very counter-culteral. Computers are attractive because they mean children need less one-on-one, and because companies can make money off of them. Healy tackles the important question, are they good for children?
Yes, it would be good if there were more research. As Healy points out, there is not much profit motivation in showing computers do not help children.
Rating: 2
Summary: Failure to Connect - Failure to Explain
Comment: All right, all right. I get the point. "Computers are bad. They keep our children from learning. Yet adults keep buying them. Therefore adults are stupid." I've read almost this entire book and I am really getting the feeling that Healy is beating a dead horse - she keeps pushing the same points over and over. Her arguments have some credibility, and her examples are generally valid. However, as critical readers we need to examine her basic premises for validity. I think that her basic premises are over-stated and somewhat simplistic.
Although she wavers a bit, the basic premise of "Failure to Connect" is a genuine concern that computers have become an integral part of children's education without regard for their usefulness, educational value, or potential harm to children. These are real concerns. However she addresses these concerns anecdotally, rather than citing real vigorous research. This book is mainly a string of stories of her visits to this school and that school (lots of tax-deductible traveling - even to Hawaii!) with stories of little Susie or Brandon not learning from a computer, while clueless teachers, administrators, and parents hover nearby. Any effective software, or research showing benefits of computer-aided learning, is dismissed as "from the software companies". However, I had a tough time finding many references to valid academic research.
Also, over and over computers are blamed for not only preventing learning, but physically damaging our children. For example, in Chapter 4 "Computers and Our Children's Health" she bemoans the physical damage computers do to our children, while longing for the good old days of book-learning. However, couldn't the same arguments be made that reading books physically damages our children? Our bodies and minds have evolved to make us efficient hunters-gatherers. In nature, we focus most of our sight and energy to distant objects, hunting with an intense focus to any subtle sounds, smells, and sights that might show food or an enemy. However, with the introduction of reading and books children spend time alone (social deprivation) in quiet (deafness) artificially lighted rooms (blindness) huddled over (weakness) a book crammed against their faces. That is why so many children have poor vision, bad hearing, and are fat and weak. C'mon! Dr. Healy! Change is not necessarily bad. Humans are marvelous creatures who can ADAPT to change. And Adapt we will, because whether you like it or not computers are here to stay!
Here is another interesting thought. Take every argument, every horror story, and every warning in this book and transport it all back fifty years. Also, instead of "computers" substitute "slide rules". You will come to the conclusion that introducing slide rules into schools will prevent any real learning, while turning our children into mindless anti-social creatures.
However, I see some value to this book. As Educators who specialize in Information Technology, we MUST look at all innovations, technologies, software and hardware with a critical eye. We cannot accept ANY Educational Technology product at face value. We MUST look at a Product long and hard to determine if it has real educational value for our children, to see if it actually aids education, to see if it has any deleterious effect on these young and growing children, to determine if it is appealing to our vanity or a desire to take "the easy way out" of the difficult work of education, and to ascertain if it is money well spent. On this, I agree with Dr. Healy and her book "Failure to Connect".
(Forgive the tone of this piece. Reading this book - which its flabby lack of intellectual rigor - is making me cranky.)
 |
Title: Your Child's Growing Mind by Jane Healy ISBN: 0385469306 Publisher: Main Street Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: Teaching With Technology: Creating Student-Centered Classrooms by Judith Haymore Sandholtz, Cathy Ringstaff, David C. Dwyer ISBN: 0807735868 Publisher: Teachers College Pr Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: The Child and the Machine: How Computers Put Our Children's Education at Risk by Alison Armstrong, Charles Casement ISBN: 1589040058 Publisher: Robins Lane Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Don't Think by Jane M. Healy ISBN: 067174920X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: October, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil ISBN: 0140282025 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
