TalkBack Central: Are schools wasting limited funds?

Please think about the main topic of this report. It is about young children, and it is about how governments and schools spend their resources. If we are not going to give the schools enough money for everything they want, they have to decide what's most important at each age level. Given the Internet as it currently stands, does it make sense to wire a 1st-grader's class for the Internet, if children lack the reading skills plus the motor skills required for typing? Or is the money better spent on helping them learn to read, develop their motor skills, and increase their critical-thinking skills?

Many comments tell how people's personal experiences have differed from the general conclusions in the report. Be careful about using a sample of one to critique a larger sample, especially if you want to critique the study's methodology.

Many comments compare home experiences with the report's discussion of school experiences. These points about parenting are true, but the issue raised is not what parents are doing at home, it's how schools should direct their resources. Even if computers are good, are they the best way to spend limited funds -- versus, say, hiring enough teachers that they can take a more individualized approach to teaching?

Keep in mind that directing resources away from computers in elementary-school years does not preclude learning about computers in public school. It may merely delay exposure to computers until later grades -- the years when many of us learned typing. Some of us are managing to work with computers today, and when we went to school, PCs didn't even exist! (Hard to believe, but true.) If we help children develop their analytic and critical-thinking skills, perhaps they will pick up on the computer training quickly enough in later grades -- and with the ability to extend it as the technology develops.

Karen Schenkenfelder is a mother of two elementary-school children and a self-employed writer and editor. Karen currently resides and works in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

We want to feature "you" as a guest columnist on TalkBack Central - The page dedicated to you and your views! Got a column for Your Turn? Submit it here. **** Even if computers are good, are they the best way to spend limited funds -- versus, say, hiring enough teachers?, asks ZDNet News reader Karen Schenkenfelder who is responding to the article - 'Warning: PCs may be a danger to kids' Read Karen's opinion below. ****

Please think about the main topic of this report. It is about young children, and it is about how governments and schools spend their resources. If we are not going to give the schools enough money for everything they want, they have to decide what's most important at each age level. Given the Internet as it currently stands, does it make sense to wire a 1st-grader's class for the Internet, if children lack the reading skills plus the motor skills required for typing? Or is the money better spent on helping them learn to read, develop their motor skills, and increase their critical-thinking skills?

Many comments tell how people's personal experiences have differed from the general conclusions in the report. Be careful about using a sample of one to critique a larger sample, especially if you want to critique the study's methodology.

Many comments compare home experiences with the report's discussion of school experiences. These points about parenting are true, but the issue raised is not what parents are doing at home, it's how schools should direct their resources. Even if computers are good, are they the best way to spend limited funds -- versus, say, hiring enough teachers that they can take a more individualized approach to teaching?

Keep in mind that directing resources away from computers in elementary-school years does not preclude learning about computers in public school. It may merely delay exposure to computers until later grades -- the years when many of us learned typing. Some of us are managing to work with computers today, and when we went to school, PCs didn't even exist! (Hard to believe, but true.) If we help children develop their analytic and critical-thinking skills, perhaps they will pick up on the computer training quickly enough in later grades -- and with the ability to extend it as the technology develops.

Karen Schenkenfelder is a mother of two elementary-school children and a self-employed writer and editor. Karen currently resides and works in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

We want to feature "you" as a guest columnist on TalkBack Central - The page dedicated to you and your views! Got a column for Your Turn? Submit it here.