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The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can Be Saved
The Flickering Mind, by National Magazine Award winner Todd Oppenheimer, is a landmark account of the failure of technology to improve our schools and a call for renewed emphasis on what really works.
American education faces an unusual moment of crisis. For decades, our schools have been beaten down by a series of curriculum fads, empty crusades for reform, and stingy funding. Now education and political leaders have offered their biggest and most expensive promise ever—the miracle of computers and the Internet—at a cost of approximately $70 billion just during the decade of the 1990s. Computer technology has become so prevalent that it is transforming nearly every corner of the academic world, from our efforts to close the gap between rich and poor, to our hopes for school reform, to our basic methods of developing the human imagination. Technology is also recasting the relationships that schools strike with the business community, changing public beliefs about the demands of tomorrow’s working world, and reframing the nation’s systems for researching, testing, and evaluating achievement.
All this change has led to a culture of the flickering mind, and a generation teetering between two possible futures. In one, youngsters have a chance to become confident masters of the tools of their day, to better address the problems of tomorrow. Alternatively, they can become victims of commercial novelties and narrow measures of ability, underscored by misplaced faith in standardized testing.
At this point, America’s students can’t even make a fair choice. They are an increasingly distracted lot. Their ability to reason, to listen, to feel empathy, is quite literally flickering. Computers and their attendant technologies did not cause all these problems, but they are quietly accelerating them. In this authoritative and impassioned account of the state of education in America, Todd Oppenheimer shows why it does not have to be this way.
Oppenheimer visited dozens of schools nationwide—public and private, urban and rural—to present the compelling tales that frame this book. He consulted with experts, read volumes of studies, and came to strong and persuasive that the essentials of learning have been gradually forgotten and that they matter much more than the novelties of technology. He argues that every time we computerize a science class or shut down a music program to pay for new hardware, we lose sight of what our priority should “enlightened basics.” Broad in scope and investigative in treatment, The Flickering Mind will not only contribute to a vital public conversation about what our schools can and should be—it will define the debate.
American education faces an unusual moment of crisis. For decades, our schools have been beaten down by a series of curriculum fads, empty crusades for reform, and stingy funding. Now education and political leaders have offered their biggest and most expensive promise ever—the miracle of computers and the Internet—at a cost of approximately $70 billion just during the decade of the 1990s. Computer technology has become so prevalent that it is transforming nearly every corner of the academic world, from our efforts to close the gap between rich and poor, to our hopes for school reform, to our basic methods of developing the human imagination. Technology is also recasting the relationships that schools strike with the business community, changing public beliefs about the demands of tomorrow’s working world, and reframing the nation’s systems for researching, testing, and evaluating achievement.
All this change has led to a culture of the flickering mind, and a generation teetering between two possible futures. In one, youngsters have a chance to become confident masters of the tools of their day, to better address the problems of tomorrow. Alternatively, they can become victims of commercial novelties and narrow measures of ability, underscored by misplaced faith in standardized testing.
At this point, America’s students can’t even make a fair choice. They are an increasingly distracted lot. Their ability to reason, to listen, to feel empathy, is quite literally flickering. Computers and their attendant technologies did not cause all these problems, but they are quietly accelerating them. In this authoritative and impassioned account of the state of education in America, Todd Oppenheimer shows why it does not have to be this way.
Oppenheimer visited dozens of schools nationwide—public and private, urban and rural—to present the compelling tales that frame this book. He consulted with experts, read volumes of studies, and came to strong and persuasive that the essentials of learning have been gradually forgotten and that they matter much more than the novelties of technology. He argues that every time we computerize a science class or shut down a music program to pay for new hardware, we lose sight of what our priority should “enlightened basics.” Broad in scope and investigative in treatment, The Flickering Mind will not only contribute to a vital public conversation about what our schools can and should be—it will define the debate.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2003
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April 15, 2019Summary
Todd Oppenheimer spent years researching the dramatic and growing impact of computers on today's classrooms. The result was The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom, and How Learning Can Be Saved. He visited high-scoring public schools, under-funded schools, high-tech schools and a school for juvenile offenders, and has interviewed many experts. He argues that good education—inquiry, exploration, hands-on learning and focused discussion—do more to develop students' intellectual capacities than technological additions do. Oppenheimer doesn't advocate removing computers from the classroom but argues for exploring what can and can't be accomplished with the gigantic investments they require. Policy makers and teachers might be better off, he writes, remembering the basics: good teaching, small classes, critical thinking, meaningful work, and the human touch.
His book is divided into 3 sub-sections; Part I, False Promises, Part II, Hidden Troubles and Part III, Smarter Paths. The chapters within the 3 parts have catchy titles such as Education’s History of Technotopia, Starting from Scratch with a Computer on Every Desk, Bulldozing the Imagination, Education’s Holy Grail:Teacher Training and The Human Touch. In Chapter One he begins the historical saga of the computer’s debut in 1975, the Altair 8800 personal computer kit. This chapter explores the onslaught of IBM and Apple products into the field of education. A shocking quote from 1982, as stated by Apple’s director of sales development, that still resonates in 2019, “There’s a personal computer being turned out once every six seconds, one day’s production of them would fill twenty football fields.” Ever further into this chapter, another Apple executive revealed, “Apple always knew that its school initiative was an ideal way to seed its market (Oppenheimer, 2004). The heavy push from tech companies trying to make a buck is a major theme in The Flickering Mind. Over the next few chapters many numbers, percentages figures, and dollars are cited. Eventually, in Chapter 5, a high-tech school in Napa Valley is visited, examined and critiqued by Oppenheimer. He calls out bad practices of teachers using the technology and students usage of the technology as mostly ineffective. But after offering what seems like a negative view of technology, he questions the school district’s budget for technology and lack of professional development for teachers and money for IT support. He shows how this pattern of introducing technology to schools and leaving them to hang in the lurch, has been happening over and over. He reports in Chapter 7, Bulldozing the Imagination that many schools had computers older than most students and obsolete floppy disks in piles, broken printers sitting around gathering dust (Oppenheimer, 2004). A lack of insight at the district level and failure to support teachers with the software and the hardware is another major theme of Oppenheimer’s research. Chapter 10 expands on this lack of teacher training, as the author calls it, Education’s Holy Grail. He states that inspiring teaching and learning can be seen in only a minority of public schools (Oppenheimer, 2004) thus his quest for dynamic and effective use of technology in the classroom. Finally, he lands on The Human Touch as the title of the last chapter of his book which is the most compelling and sums up another major theme. “At its core, education is a people process. Yes, youngsters need tools, but most of all they need people” (Oppenheimer, 2004, p. 395). He concludes that educational policy and its implementation is what offers a ‘false promise’ and that the priority in the classroom is not the technological process but the human one. When people are asked to describe a memory from their schooling, almost all revolve around a great teacher, not a tool. Forbes senior editor, Stephen Kindel said it best, “Education depends on the intimate contact between a good teacher -- part performer, part dictator, part cajoler -- and an inquiring student” (Oppenheimer, 2004, p.397). In the end, the author offers that in select cases computers can be very useful in school, but at the same time teaching children that what is on a screen is more important than sitting down and talking to a friend or playing with real objects, things which sustain society over time.
Critique
Oppenheimer’s book is so lengthy and full of minute details about the history of the computer industry and its influence on education that the content had to be narrowed down. Instead of reading the book as a whole I focused on a few chapters along with the introduction and conclusion. Even though this book was published in 2004, the historical facts do not change over time. The solid and thorough basis that Oppenheimer gives is necessary to support his theory that computers have the ability to ignite students’ imaginations, but they will never replace the attentiveness of an energetic teacher. I believe the author wrote this book, not to bash technology but to tell the story of how important the human touch really is for students to prosper. And in order to succeed, they need to have imagination, be able to communicate, retain knowledge and think critically. After 423 pages of insightful research and factual storytelling, Oppenheimer offers some already well-known conclusions: smaller class sizes, longer teacher preparation time, student collaboration, help programs, and supportive home life are the vital components of the education of children. In addition, being aware of the computer industry’s long-standing push to get their products into schools, only to make money in the future as those children become adult consumers. This is where the blame should be placed when it comes to a child’s flickering mind. After reading select chapters from the book, I took to reading reviews and found that the debate still rages on with critics arguing against Oppenheimer’s viewpoints. So the questions remain, Are computers the "ultimate innovation" that will lead us into a 21st-century educational utopia? Or are they merely distractions, part of a long line of technological advances that are incompatible with proven traditions of learning? I believe we are still without the answers to these questions, 15 years later, but The Flickering Mind can give us some insight and overwhelming evidence in our search for the answer.
Author’s qualifications
Todd Oppenheimer began writing with a background in the arts and education after graduating from the University of California Berkeley with a B.A. and did post-graduate work at Portland State University. He was a calligrapher, woodworker and portrait sculptor and spent five years as a professional actor in New York City, where he also worked as a mime partner with Robin Williams. He served on the board of San Francisco's Magic Theatre, is a former board member of the Seven Tepees Youth Program for underprivileged children, among other jobs (Booknoise, n.d.). He is a freelance writer based in San Francisco and has been working as a journalist since the late 1970s. The Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review and some local newspapers are among the publications he has written for. The Flickering Mind is an expansion of one of his articles, The Computer Delusion, written for The Atlantic. Oppenheimer has won numerous, national awards for his writing and has served as a judge for The Investigated Reporters and Editor’s annual awards. He also volunteers in schools and was honored as San Francisco Schools’ Volunteer of the Year. He has appeared as a guest on radio and television programs, including American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) Nightline.
References
Oppenheimer, T. (2003). The Flickering Mind. Random House.
Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781...
Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/edu...
Retrieved from http://www.booknoise.net/flickeringmi...
Todd Oppenheimer spent years researching the dramatic and growing impact of computers on today's classrooms. The result was The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom, and How Learning Can Be Saved. He visited high-scoring public schools, under-funded schools, high-tech schools and a school for juvenile offenders, and has interviewed many experts. He argues that good education—inquiry, exploration, hands-on learning and focused discussion—do more to develop students' intellectual capacities than technological additions do. Oppenheimer doesn't advocate removing computers from the classroom but argues for exploring what can and can't be accomplished with the gigantic investments they require. Policy makers and teachers might be better off, he writes, remembering the basics: good teaching, small classes, critical thinking, meaningful work, and the human touch.
His book is divided into 3 sub-sections; Part I, False Promises, Part II, Hidden Troubles and Part III, Smarter Paths. The chapters within the 3 parts have catchy titles such as Education’s History of Technotopia, Starting from Scratch with a Computer on Every Desk, Bulldozing the Imagination, Education’s Holy Grail:Teacher Training and The Human Touch. In Chapter One he begins the historical saga of the computer’s debut in 1975, the Altair 8800 personal computer kit. This chapter explores the onslaught of IBM and Apple products into the field of education. A shocking quote from 1982, as stated by Apple’s director of sales development, that still resonates in 2019, “There’s a personal computer being turned out once every six seconds, one day’s production of them would fill twenty football fields.” Ever further into this chapter, another Apple executive revealed, “Apple always knew that its school initiative was an ideal way to seed its market (Oppenheimer, 2004). The heavy push from tech companies trying to make a buck is a major theme in The Flickering Mind. Over the next few chapters many numbers, percentages figures, and dollars are cited. Eventually, in Chapter 5, a high-tech school in Napa Valley is visited, examined and critiqued by Oppenheimer. He calls out bad practices of teachers using the technology and students usage of the technology as mostly ineffective. But after offering what seems like a negative view of technology, he questions the school district’s budget for technology and lack of professional development for teachers and money for IT support. He shows how this pattern of introducing technology to schools and leaving them to hang in the lurch, has been happening over and over. He reports in Chapter 7, Bulldozing the Imagination that many schools had computers older than most students and obsolete floppy disks in piles, broken printers sitting around gathering dust (Oppenheimer, 2004). A lack of insight at the district level and failure to support teachers with the software and the hardware is another major theme of Oppenheimer’s research. Chapter 10 expands on this lack of teacher training, as the author calls it, Education’s Holy Grail. He states that inspiring teaching and learning can be seen in only a minority of public schools (Oppenheimer, 2004) thus his quest for dynamic and effective use of technology in the classroom. Finally, he lands on The Human Touch as the title of the last chapter of his book which is the most compelling and sums up another major theme. “At its core, education is a people process. Yes, youngsters need tools, but most of all they need people” (Oppenheimer, 2004, p. 395). He concludes that educational policy and its implementation is what offers a ‘false promise’ and that the priority in the classroom is not the technological process but the human one. When people are asked to describe a memory from their schooling, almost all revolve around a great teacher, not a tool. Forbes senior editor, Stephen Kindel said it best, “Education depends on the intimate contact between a good teacher -- part performer, part dictator, part cajoler -- and an inquiring student” (Oppenheimer, 2004, p.397). In the end, the author offers that in select cases computers can be very useful in school, but at the same time teaching children that what is on a screen is more important than sitting down and talking to a friend or playing with real objects, things which sustain society over time.
Critique
Oppenheimer’s book is so lengthy and full of minute details about the history of the computer industry and its influence on education that the content had to be narrowed down. Instead of reading the book as a whole I focused on a few chapters along with the introduction and conclusion. Even though this book was published in 2004, the historical facts do not change over time. The solid and thorough basis that Oppenheimer gives is necessary to support his theory that computers have the ability to ignite students’ imaginations, but they will never replace the attentiveness of an energetic teacher. I believe the author wrote this book, not to bash technology but to tell the story of how important the human touch really is for students to prosper. And in order to succeed, they need to have imagination, be able to communicate, retain knowledge and think critically. After 423 pages of insightful research and factual storytelling, Oppenheimer offers some already well-known conclusions: smaller class sizes, longer teacher preparation time, student collaboration, help programs, and supportive home life are the vital components of the education of children. In addition, being aware of the computer industry’s long-standing push to get their products into schools, only to make money in the future as those children become adult consumers. This is where the blame should be placed when it comes to a child’s flickering mind. After reading select chapters from the book, I took to reading reviews and found that the debate still rages on with critics arguing against Oppenheimer’s viewpoints. So the questions remain, Are computers the "ultimate innovation" that will lead us into a 21st-century educational utopia? Or are they merely distractions, part of a long line of technological advances that are incompatible with proven traditions of learning? I believe we are still without the answers to these questions, 15 years later, but The Flickering Mind can give us some insight and overwhelming evidence in our search for the answer.
Author’s qualifications
Todd Oppenheimer began writing with a background in the arts and education after graduating from the University of California Berkeley with a B.A. and did post-graduate work at Portland State University. He was a calligrapher, woodworker and portrait sculptor and spent five years as a professional actor in New York City, where he also worked as a mime partner with Robin Williams. He served on the board of San Francisco's Magic Theatre, is a former board member of the Seven Tepees Youth Program for underprivileged children, among other jobs (Booknoise, n.d.). He is a freelance writer based in San Francisco and has been working as a journalist since the late 1970s. The Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review and some local newspapers are among the publications he has written for. The Flickering Mind is an expansion of one of his articles, The Computer Delusion, written for The Atlantic. Oppenheimer has won numerous, national awards for his writing and has served as a judge for The Investigated Reporters and Editor’s annual awards. He also volunteers in schools and was honored as San Francisco Schools’ Volunteer of the Year. He has appeared as a guest on radio and television programs, including American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) Nightline.
References
Oppenheimer, T. (2003). The Flickering Mind. Random House.
Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781...
Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/edu...
Retrieved from http://www.booknoise.net/flickeringmi...
March 14, 2011
I'd seen the author of this book speaking on a documentary about how bad people tend to be at multitasking, no matter how much we wish to believe differently. That appearance, coupled with the title of the book, made me think his work would be more about the effects on concentration as a result of all this technology we're exposing kids to in the interest of "up to date education." The book, instead, is a (very long, very in depth) study of why we should spend more time and money on the basics of education than on keeping up with ever-changing technology.
So, my review isn't entirely fair, because I'm judging the book against what I expected rather than what it was intended to be, I realize. I don't disagree with the author's assertions, and the book was well-written as far as I read (I read the first, oh, 5 chapters? Then skimmed the rest to make sure the topic I was hoping for wasn't buried inside), but it wasn't what I was looking for, so I didn't finish it. And I won't feel guilty for that. ;-)
(But this has spawned the creation of my started-then-quit-reading list!)
So, my review isn't entirely fair, because I'm judging the book against what I expected rather than what it was intended to be, I realize. I don't disagree with the author's assertions, and the book was well-written as far as I read (I read the first, oh, 5 chapters? Then skimmed the rest to make sure the topic I was hoping for wasn't buried inside), but it wasn't what I was looking for, so I didn't finish it. And I won't feel guilty for that. ;-)
(But this has spawned the creation of my started-then-quit-reading list!)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews