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Limiting Technology In Education

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Benjamin Waldman, identified as a junior at a prep school in a letter to the editor in Education Week, asks "When does technology become too prevalent in education" citing its use in the nation's schools placing desktop computers and even the iPads in kindergarten classes in Auburn, Maine and the $1 billion initiative in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

For him a screen does not develop personal relationships or social interaction; it inhibits them. Waldman describes his studying math for the better part of a year from screen...mindlessly adding numbers and typing in the answers was so monotonous that he no longer enjoyed a subject that he loved...missing supportive contact from his teacher.

His research pointed to Silicon Valley, where a branch of the Waldorf Schools enforces a complete technological prohibition on students through 7th grade, yet has attracted children of technology executives from Google and Apple.

Waldman's letter is well written and provocative and deserves some attention.

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