This book was originally written and published by Theodor H. Nelson in 1974. Nelson is an academic and computer visionary who is often credited with creating the term "hypertext" in 1965. His idea that everything is deeply intermingled is illustrated in his book, which has two separate sections. Computer Lib is the first side, meant to be educational and arouse the curiosity of the public. The second side, Dream Machines, offers a look into the future of computing. Both end in the middle of the book.
He published the book during an era in which people distrusted computers:
The new breed has got to be watched. This is the urgency of this book. Remember that the man who writes the payroll program can write himself some pretty amazing checks - perhaps to be mailed out to Switzerland, next year. From here on it's computer politics, computer dirty tricks, computer wonderlands, computer everything. For anyone concerned to be where it's at, then, this book will provide a few suggestions. Now is the time you either know or you don’t. Enough power talk. Knowledge is power. Here you go. Dig in.
In Computer Lib, Nelson tries to counteract these notions. He writes about the need for people to understand computers deeply, more deeply than was generally promoted as "computer literacy," which he considers a superficial kind of familiarity with particular hardware and software.
Nelson also discusses problems with the education system. He says teachers are often too involved in classroom management tasks to be affective teachers. “The educational system is thereby committed to the fussy and prissy, to the enforcement of peculiar standards of righteousness and the elevation of teachers—a huge irrelevant shell around the small kernel of knowledge transmitted.”
On the other hand, he believes the usual attacks on computer teaching tend to be emotional pleas for the alleged humanism of the existing system. In other words, people who are opposed to the use of computers to teach generally believe the computer to be “cold” and “inhuman.” However, the teacher is considered “warm” and “human."
He provides several nuggets about teaching. The three most interesting ones are:
1. The human mind is born free, yet everywhere it is in chains. The educational system serves mainly to destroy for most people, in varying degrees, intelligence, curiosity, enthusiasm, and intellectual initiative and self-confidence. We are born with these. They are gone or severely diminished when we leave school.
2. Everything is interesting, until ruined for us. Nothing in the universe is intrinsically uninteresting. Schooling systematically ruins things for us, wiping out these interests; the last thing to be ruined determines your profession.
3. Most teachers mean well, but they are so concerned with promoting their images, attitudes and style of order that very little else can be communicated in the time remaining, and almost none of it attractively.
His ideas on teaching lead me to believe he had some cold, heartless teachers. Perhaps his ideas were stifled, which led him to believe his teachers were useless. I don't think this is the case with most individuals. I believe teachers and computers may actually complement one another, not detract. Computers offer teachers a wealth of knowledge that can be passed on to students. Perhaps ideas that will foster a creative learning environment in which students are encouraged to cultivate their unique ideas.
Montessori schools use many of the principles that he desires in teachers. Maria Montessori believed strongly that children learn most effectively through play, actually. Advantages of Montessori schools are students have more complex vocabularies. They learn self-control, their own potential and they are self-paced, meaning there are multiple ages in a classroom.
However, the Montessori method is ideal for precocious, self starting and independent kids. It gives them the opportunity to develop by themselves, at their own pace and without the restraints of a structured program. What about students who are not very motivated?
Nelson probably has a very high IQ, and he should have been in a more stimulating learning environment. However, I believe traditional classroom settings that encourage a holistic style of learning are practical for most students. Holistic learning is based on the principle that students will learn more effectively when all aspects of a person--mind, body and spirit--are involved in the experience. Gifted and talented programs perhaps suffice for other students.
Nelson ends the piece with a simple path for the future: "It is time to start using computers to hold information for the mind as much as books have held this information in the past."
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