EdTech 742 Book Review

EdTech 742 Book Review Christine Williams

Book: Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology Since 1920

Author: Larry Cuban, Stanford University

Published: 1986, Teachers College, Columbia University

In his acknowledgments section of the book, Cuban states that this book the result of a "wedding between research and experience." He has been a classroom teacher, a superintendent, and is currently a professor at Stanford University. He is interested in the use of technology and in how teachers teach. Cuban is not anti-technology, but he is concerned that those in charge have little understanding of the art of teaching. Technology is a good tool, but one cannot just cram it into the schools without asking if this will truly improve education. He hopes that this book will help "practitioners, researchers, and policymakers understand better the classroom as a workplace."

The introduction opens with Cuban decrying the all too common assumption that teachers are the roadblocks to improving public schools. He says that teachers are faced with societal demands that are in opposition to one another. These "contradictions" as he calls them have made teaching more and more conflicted. He cites four examples of these contradictions teachers must contend with:

Socialize all children, yet nourish each child's individual creativity; teach the best that the past has to offer, but insure that each child possesses practical skills marketable in the community; demand obedience to authority, but encourage individual children to think and question; cultivate cooperation, but prepare children to compete.

Cuban argues that too often policymakers, businessmen, administrators, etc. see technology as the magic solution to all of education's woes. Of course, when the teachers don't use the equipment, as it is perceived they should, they are attacked as the barrier to reform. No one, he counters, even seems to ask whether this sort of technology (whatever it is) would be of benefit nor does anyone seem to look into the reasons behind why some sort of technology is being pushed so hard. He believes it a failure on the part of the reformers, policymakers, and administrators not to include the "teacher's perspective" when it comes to purchasing any sort of equipment and that this failure didn't start with computers in the latter half of the twentieth century but rather at the beginning.

The book is divided into four chapters and proceeds chronologically. Chapter one covers film and radio. Chapter two discusses instructional television. Chapter three focuses on how teachers use machines in the classroom, and chapter four examines the "promise of computers." Cuban points out throughout the book that no matter the technological innovation there never seems to be enough long-term study of its efficacy. Of course, at the time this book was written, computers were limited in their scope and availability to classrooms everywhere. His basic premise as regards "machines" in the classroom is that they can be of use (provided there is proper training, access, and support for all teachers involved AND that there is a demonstrable need for the equipment). However, Cuban is worried that policymakers, etc. are too eager to try some new thing without thinking it through and throw all the older, established methodologies of teaching out the window.

I see where Cuban is coming from. I have witnessed countless dollars wasted, not just on equipment or technology, but also on workshops and trainings on any number of topics. Everyone jumps on some educational bandwagon every few years: "Let's all try this new thing!" It is frustrating to attend seminars or get equipment, but never get enough training or support or even access to the necessary materials. However, I think Cuban is overly worried about technology in the classroom. I would like to see a happy medium. I do believe technology can assist teaching very much, but I don't believe it replaces everything. Like Cuban, I want to see evidence of its effectiveness before a district goes out and invests thousands of dollars in a program, hardware, software, etc. I also think that teachers need to be more open to the change and application of technology. Perhaps by keeping what good teaching practice and melding it with new teaching methods via technology may make it possible to do what society demands in the classroom, i.e., the very "contradictions" Cuban refers to in his introduction.