Some Ohio Schools Say Computers Don’t Belong in Classrooms
Technology is playing an increasingly prominent role in America’s schools. These days, computer games teach math skills and lectures are given at home via YouTube while class time is reserved for practicing the material, in what has become known as a flipped classroom.
Digital Learning Now, a national group advocating for technology in schools, says Ohio is leading the nation “in transforming education for the digital age.”
But not everyone thinks laptops belong in the classroom. Some Ohio schools are deliberately shunning technology.
- Schools Say Computers Don't Belong in ClassroomsPrivate and public schools are saying computers can wait when it comes to education.Download
Ida Lieszkovszky / StateImpact Ohio
These kindergarteners at Spring Garden Waldorf School sing while baking bread. They do not use computers in class at all.
Pulling up to Spring Garden Waldorf School in Copley, just North of Akron, it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t a normal school. For one thing, the building sits on 12 acres of wooded land. It feels much more like a summer camp than it does an elementary school.
Once inside the building, things look a bit more traditional. Soggy boots line the hallways. Apples decorate classroom doors. But something seems to be missing. There are “no TV’s, no computers.”
Amy Hecky’s kids go to school here, and she also works as the marketing and admissions director.
Where most schools these days have a computer room, Spring Garden has a wood working shop. There are no photoshop lessons, but there is an arts and crafts room and lots of music, without the help of Apple’s Garage band.
There are no computers, no tablets, no smart boards.
There’s another Waldorf School in Cincinnati, and a day care program in Columbus.
They’re all strictly anti-technology.
It’s not allowed in the school, and even discouraged at home.
Ida Lieszkovszky / StateImpact: Ohio
Amy Hecky says technology isn't appropriate in the classroom until kids approach the high school years.
Amy Hecky says that she wasn’t always against technology.
“My kids were watching Sesame Street so I could make dinner. We were a typical American family with my kids in front of the TV easily 2 hours a day,” she recalls.
When her kids became school age, she visited the nearby public school, and “the first room they showed me was the computer lab and it was a string of computers all facing the outside wall of the classroom and immediately I knew that wasn’t it for us as a family.”
Hecky says it’s not that Waldorf schools oppose all technology.
“It’s just the right tool at the right time,” she says.”In these first 12 or 13 years of their life it’s not what’s best for them.”
She says students don’t need to be taught how to use computers. They’re machines built to be intuitive, after all.
Just south of Mansfield, a public school takes a similar approach.
Clear Fork Valley Local principal Roger Knight says he gets “sick and tired of hearing about technology.”
Clear Fork Valley Local is rated as one of the top schools in the nation. His school does not completely shun technology, they do have a computer lab. But it’s not a major focus.
He says in tough economic times, it’s more important to invest in good teachers than flashy iPads.
“Technology is a tool. My automobile is a tool. I could drive a Chevy or a Cadillac, it’s a tool, and I want those tools in the hands of my teachers. I don’t care if a kid ever sees a computer.”
-Roger Knight, principal at Clear Fork Valley Local.
“Technology is a tool. My automobile is a tool. I could drive a Chevy or a Cadillac, it’s a tool, and I want those tools in the hands of my teachers. I don’t care if a kid ever sees a computer.”
The philosophy of these schools collides with a major focus of state education policy. Technology is a key element of Ohio’s curriculum.
This year Governor John Kasich launched the Digital Learning Task Force. The group of education officials is spending the year travelling the state and putting together a list of recommendations about technology in schools.
There’s also e-Tech Ohio, a department dedicated to ensuring students statewide have access to technology. It’s also a funding source for public broadcasting.
Ida Lieszkovszky / StateImpact Ohio
E-Tech Ohio's Executive Director Kate Harkin says technology is here to stay, and can be a great tool for many teachers.
E-Tech Ohio’s Executive Director, Kate Harkin, says it’s not about technology versus no technology, or replacing teachers with computers.
In fact, she says, “technology will never replace a committed teacher. The role of the learner and the educator is a very special one and I don’t think that will be replaced by technology. I do think technology will help supplement that.”
Technology does have its benefits, says Harkin. Like watching Martin Luther King Jr. give a speech instead of reading a transcript, or checking out documents on the web that were previously only available in the Library of Congress.
“Who doesn’t want that? Immediate access to the information that’s of utmost importance to me. I don’t think anyone can argue with that.”
Plus, she says, let’s face it. Technology is here to stay.
“If you walk onto a college campus, a new job, or anywhere else, if you don’t have those skills you are left behind,” says Harkin.
Back at the Waldorf schools, students aren’t left behind. Teachers allow computer use and encourage things like Google searches, but not until the kids are approaching high school.