Staff editorial
The Lawrence school district and Cisco Systems, having already cooperated to give Internet access to every classroom in the district, are coming together on an even better venture.
The Lawrence Cisco Networking Academy will make its debut at Lawrence High School next year. Students who successfully complete the two-year course will become Cisco Certified Networking Associates, meaning they already will have highly sought-after skills at the end of high school.
On this very page last week, we ran a column by Joan Ruddiman reviewing a book by Clifford Stoll. Mr. Stoll’s book criticized the rush to “computerize” the classroom, saying that too often students are not taught how to apply the use of a computer to come up with solutions to critical thinking problems.
We agree with that sentiment. The computer should not be viewed as the be-all, end-all of education. For starters, computers are fallible. Yes, a computer’s calculations are rarely wrong, and if they are it’s probably the fault of the user. But often computers do not: start properly, connect to the network, read attachments, download files quickly. Several times, however, they do abruptly shut down programs because of “illegal procedures” or turn off because of “fatal exception errors.” We at The Ledger are well aware of these shortcomings.
Imagine being a teacher and having an entire lesson planned on the computer to find out they aren’t working that day. Books always open.
The Lawrence Cisco Networking Academy is a different case, however. On first blush, this is a course that appears geared toward finding solutions with critical thinking, exactly what Mr. Stoll said schools should be doing.
At the same time, the course will provide real-life working skills — an answer to the perpetual question, “When am I ever going to use this?” that pupils often ask in classes like trigonometry or biology. Students will be able to enter the work force immediately after graduation, if they so desire (though we still endorse and encourage a college education because of all it can teach and how much it can mature a person).
As for other classes at Lawrence High and in the rest of the district, we urge teachers to use new computers and networks wisely. High-tech gadgets are just tools. Teach your students not just how to find a Web site about new medical products, teach them how to verify its source and make sure the information is credible. Don’t show them the cool effects a PowerPoint presentation could have, tell them what minimal information should appear on the screen and how to speak clearly and concisely before a crowd.
And when the first graduates of the Lawrence Cisco Networking Academy hit the work force, could you give us a call and let us know how we can speed up our ISDN connection?
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LHS, Cisco partners in new academy
Is ‘computer literacy’ an oxymoron?