The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-10-24, Page 23ElACTRIC IRON
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0
Air
Shirley Whittington
ByebyebI . b
(C�mputer is ideal te
rds?
There's a lot of lunacy
abroad in the land and a
great, deal of it surfaces in
the daily news headlines.
For proof, you need look no
further than a recent issue of
a big city newspaper which
headed a story in the back -
to -school edition with "Com-
puter is the ideal teacher."
The story suggests that
computers are ideal in the
classroom because they are
"quiet, endlessly patient, un-
demanding, non -threatening
and always ready when the
student is."
I suggest there are very
few human teachers still
teaching who are not end-
lessly patient. They have to
be patient to deal with slack -
jawed kids, irresponsible
parents, insensitive boards,
bewildered taxpayers, and
distant bureaucrats who
base their decisions upon the
readings of Chicken Little's
entrails.
After all that, if they have
any patience left over,
teachers direct musicals,
coach basketball teams, or-
ganize car washed to raise
money for the student
council and plan science
fairs.
Computers, says my news
paper,2are quiet and unde-
manding: So are turnips. But
if, you want to fire a mind,
you have to be lively and re-
markable.
The teachers who made a
difference in my life were
noisy and demanding. They
sang. They broke rules./They
banged doors and played
records and read books out
loud and spoke sharply when
they had to.
Demanding'? The memor-
able ones hammered away
at me with the persistence of
woodpeckers as they search-
ed for something redeem-
able in the dense telephone
pole of my mind.
Jessie Richmond de-
manded Latin declensions
and poked me with a pencil
till she got them.
Mr. McGill demanded a
passing mark in chemistry
and kept me after school
night after night untilI turn-
ed in a test paper that suited
him.
Fred Rainsberry, cham-
pion Enghh teacher,
demanded T1awless gram-
mar and a poem, essay or
short story a week.
Mr. Tovell demanded a
neat notebook and just kept
firing mine back at me until I
got the picture.
The teachers of my life de-
manded, and they got.
"Machines are ' non-
threatening," coos the jour-
nalistic turtle -dove re-
sponsible for "Computer is
ideal teacher." For wool-
gathering, gum -chewing,
Walkman -wired, fuzz -brain,
a good electrifying threat or
two may be exactly in order.
"Get those essays in by Fri-
day," thundered Doc Hill in
our grade ten history class,
"or kiss your term mark
goodbye."
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Crossroads -Oct. 24, 1984—Page 11
er?)
We got.
Yes indeed. There isaa case
to be made for real live
teachers in a classroom. The
main reason is that teachers
are huoan and react to other
humans in human ways.
When an earnest grade
nine student punches in the
information that the
Egyptians "raped their
mummies thirteen times, in
linen," the whole thing would
be lost on a computer which
might simply respond,
"Sorry Mary. Try again."
It seems a pity to waste
"In 1914 the Balkans were
the powder -puff of Europe"
on a computer keyboard.
I ask you. Would a ma-
chine lend money to a kid
whose peanut butter sand-
wiches had been savaged by
the mice who live in the lock-
ers in the south wing?
Would a machine suggest
that a student was wearing
clothing inappropriate to the
halls of academy, and then
toss the offender his car keys
so he could go home and
change?
Remember the wildly im-
probable excuses dreamed
up by those who didn't get
their Hamlet questions done
for' English? "I did them
Miss Stamforth. Honest to
God I did. But I' left my books
in my boyfriend's car when
he was driving me home
from the library last night
and this morning he had to
drive to Calgary for a job in-
terview and guess what my
books are still in his car. But
I answered all the questions.
Really.. I could get him to
mail them when he gets out
there."
Your basic machine, being
endlessly patient, quiet, un-
demanding and non-
threatening, would probably
buy that. A real flesh and
blood teacher wouldn't.
Computers would never fit,
into the weird love hate
ambience that exists bet-
ween teachers and kids. I
can't imagine screens and
keyboards inspiring the won-
derful nicknames by which
all teachers are known
behind their backs. Old Bard
Head, Miss Blink, Crackers
and Red Pencil Ferguson are'
real people from my
academic past.
The final piece of idiocy
proclaimed in this "Com-
puter is ideal teacher" piece
is this: "Instead of sitting in
front of boring, dry -as -dust
text books, the child tunes
into a world of color and
sound."
The writer that committed
that sentence has obviously
not looked at a text book
since Dick and Jane were
messing around with Spot
and Baby. Today's text
books are brightly written,
expensively illustrated and
constantly changing.
Computers, like wall
maps, museums, pickled
frogs and pianos will always
be useful tools for .teachers.
But they never will beteach-
ers, ideal or otherwise.
An apple for a teacher?
Never.
Mainstream Canada
L
Giving thanks
By Tony Carlson
Much more than New
Year's, this season, for
many of us, is a time of new
beginnings and reflections
on the past year. •
Millions of students and
teachers are settling in for
another crack at the books.
Our most popular sport is
gearing up in arenas from
Agassiz to St. John's. New
colors add brilliant light to
our forests and calendars
announce Rosh ' Hashanah
and Thanksgiving.
It is a fine time, as we
digest our holiday feasts, to
step back and assess how
we're faring, as a country
and as individuals.
Certainly there is much
that is worrisome; horren-
dous unemployment; in-
creasing poverty; a future in
which new technologies thre-
aten jobs and new weapons,
lives.
But balanced against all of
that is the reality that for the
great majority of us in this
country3 life offers opportun-
ities unequalled in the world.
We love to carp at govern-
ment, bureaucrats and poli-
ticians alike. But the fact
that we can launch broad-
sides at those in power, with-
out fear of reprisal, gives us
a leg up on much of the
wbrld's population.
We crab about our schools,
saying they produce unskill-
ed graduates. But we do
have universal education at
standards that are above
most.
We rail against Ottawa's
deficit. But we can be thank-
ful for an inflation rate that
is 100 times lower than the
one Israelis live with.
We also seem to have no
trouble, on the whole, buying
luxury goods. More of us own
video recorders (12.5 per
cent of all households) than
ever before; same with
microwave ovens (16 per
cent own them), color tele-
visions (88 per cent) and
cable converters (31 per
cent) . Clearly the good life is
not passing all of us by.
Our farmers are among
the most productive in the
world, allowing us to eat well
at relatively low prices.
Even in the West, where
drought has decimated the
grain crops, last month's
early snow bodes well for a
replenishing winter.
While recovery from the
recession remains fragile,
more people are starting
businesses today than two
years ago, and fewer are
going under.
Events in the last few
months also must give us a
boost. For the first time in
decades, Canadians have a
governing party that truly
represents all regions of the
country.
It is worthwhile, too, to
think about the warmth that
was sparked by the Pope's
visit, a significant outpour-
ing of affection for a spiritual
leader who touched us all,
regardless of faith.
We might reflect as well on
the lonely trek of Steve Fon-
yo, the one -legged runner
following doggedly in the
footsteps of Terry Fox. The
determination of these young
men is inspirational.
Nor should we forget the
hockey heroes who re-
captured the Canada Cup
with stirring play. Their win
won't cure cancer, but it pro-
vides millions with a sense of
pride.
This is not to claim we en-
joy the best of all possible
worlds. Rather it is to give
thanks for what we do have.
We lose something precious
if we allow the mountains of
dross to bury the Nuggets of
gold.
Guest birthdate
Newspaperman Edgar Al-
bert Guest was born on Aug.
20, 1881, at Birmingham,
England.
"IF
EVERY CANADIAN
PUT A DIME INTO
Unicef
BOXES"...
UNICEF could be saving
20,000 children
every day!
ft•