There's been plenty of talk over the years about how computers
will replace textbooks in the classroom and how students will just
look stuff up online instead of having to tote around books. A fair number of schools
give students laptops, but now, some of those programs
are being stopped because they're not having any positive impact on students' education. That's not very hard to believe, since it sounds like many of the programs cited in the original article basically just threw laptops at students, and made very little effort to work them into the curriculum in a meaningful way. This point has been clear from the outset: simply giving kids computers (or people in developing nations, as with
the $100 dollar OLPC) isn't going to do much. Computers, internet access and other technologies should be seen as useful tools, not silver bullets for education. Making them available is too often seen as a quick fix by politicians and administrators, but not creating some sort of plan around them essentially ensures long-term failure once the shine of being oh-so-high-tech wears off.
