Learning Learning/Parable 2

Parable 2

One Pencil Per Classroom

Imagine that writing has just been invented in Foobar, a country that has managed to develop a highly sophisticated culture of poetry, philosophy and science using entirely oral means of expression. It occurs to imaginative educators that the new technology of pencils, paper and printing could have a beneficial effect on the schools of the country. Many suggestions are made. The most radical is to provide all teachers and children with pencils, paper and books and suspend regular classes for six months while everyone learns the new art of reading and writing. The more cautious plans propose starting slowly and seeing how "pencil-learning" works on a small scale before doing anything really drastic. In the end, Foobarian politicians being what they are, a cautious plan is announced with radical fanfare: Within four years a pencil and a pad of paper will be placed in every single classroom of the country so that every child, rich or poor, will have access to the new knowledge technology. Meantime the educational psychologists stand by to measure the impact of pencils on learning.

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(comment) The rhetorical trick behind this learning parable is quite obvious, and it is supposed to make you despise the befuddled politicians that just cannot see the radical goodness of pencils and papers. Poor confused politicians. While we, the smart readers, laugh. And we are supposed to apply this parable to the OLPC machine. But let us suppose that there was one Foobarian politician that said Say, why don't we try this radical pencil and paper tech in a couple of pilot schools? After all, it is not as if it were cheap, and in a few years we will see whether it is good or not. We don't want to repeat the mistake made when we tried massive adoption of the chisel-hammer-slab technology, and kids kept getting their fingers squashed. Not to mention the noise.

Would that politican be doing a service or a disservice to Foobar?

(comment from a highschool math teacher) One pencil/pad in a classroom sounds ridiculous but there is a very closely related technology which evolved into this configuration. In the 19th century most classrooms had a slate blackboard as well as individual writing slates for student use. Then, as paper became more affordable, tablets replaced slates for student use, but blackboards remained ubiquitous as a presentation tool. The question educators must always ask themselves is: How can students best learn? I have much technology available in my classroom including laptops for all, handhelds for all, digital projectors, etc. and I do use digital technology frequently, but sometimes students learn best by just going to the blackboard and working.

(comment) An important point to consider about this parable is the impact of the new technology to the culture, traditions and creative processes of the people of Foobar. Might it no align the parable with the OLPC project more closely the parable to add that this new technology or pencils and paper and reading and writting was brought into the country by well-meaning missionaries from abroad? Also, the introduction of two technologies is really being discussed; Pencil/Paper and Reading/Writing. These are discrete inovations and to take both on in a single leap from an oral tradition might not be a very natural evolution. And what about those oral works? How can the impact to the cultural heritage of the society be measured? What if the missionaries had brought tape recorders or video cameras? The children could skip right over laerning to write. Or hey, how about laptops with cameras?