Why can’t every child be a ‘Bode-learner’?

When Maine legislators voted for the laptop initiative they might not have realized that they were giving a lesson in English to educators and politicians far beyond the borders of our state. I am thinking of the implications of their action for the sloppy use of language in statements like: “equity requires that every classroom in the country be connected so that all students can have access to the Internet.”

I thought the word equity had something to do with equal. Yet there is nothing equal about the “access” provided by a few computers in a classroom and the “access” enjoyed by my grandchildren who freely use their own computers in their own rooms at home. Using the same words “access” and “equity” to cover these different situations casts a blanket of confusion over the national debate on education. What we are doing in Maine may help restore their real meaning to these words.

Last time I wrote in this column I used Bode Miller as an example of independence in learning: he learned in his own way to ski in his own way. Here I use a story about a grandson to explain both the idea of “Bode-learning” (as I am beginning to call it) and the inequalities that come from different kinds of access.

The grandsons all have free access at home to computers. Nobody forces them to use the machines in any particular way but by the time they are 7 or 8 they have become technically proficient. More importantly they have acquired an attitude of self-direction about learning. For example, at age eight one of them mastered a flight simulator designed for adults and for about a year spent a lot of time “flying” all over the globe. He learned more geography than I have ever seen in an elementary school curriculum and learned it far more deeply. He acquired vocabulary beyond what school considers proper for his age. He learned a lot more school knowledge (like significant pieces of mathematics) and a lot that is still valuable although not “in the curriculum” (like being able to talk like a professional about the difference between the flight characteristics of a Boeing 747 and a Cessna 172.)

Perhaps most important was learning to be a self-directed learner – a Bode-learner. He did not need a teacher to make him learn, but when he wanted help he used email and his web-browser extensively as well as asking the adults in his environment.

His self-direction is illustrated even more deeply by the fact that the next year he decided to learn to drive a car (going against all the usual assumptions about what 9 year old children are “supposed to” do) and with great effort succeeded in passing the Kentucky driving test – of course on a simulator. But for all that, he is no “computer geek.” His passion this year is swimming and I like to think that the unusually fast progress he is making in competitive swimming owes something to a contribution of his computer experiences towards his development as a self-motivated, highly disciplined and very competent learner.

I contrast this with the experience of many children I know whose contact with computers is two hours a week in a school “computer lab.” Don’t get me wrong: many great things are done under these conditions by imaginative teachers and eager students. But without enough time to really master the computer and to develop personal interests the Bode-learning I saw in my grandson does not often get a chance. In fact the learning often goes in the opposite direction from the self-directed, highly disciplined, interest-based, beyond- age-expectation aspects of his experience. In particular, when the use of the World-Wide Web is not integrated holistically into larger activities, “surfing” encourages an undisciplined “butterfly mentality.” I do not deny that some benefit comes from even the most fleeting “virtual visits” to foreign cities (to take a typical example.) But this must not be confused with developing the qualities of mind that will open doors to the knowledge society.

Of course not all children who have computers at home use them well. But “equity” in education does not mean equal outcomes. It means everyone has equal opportunity. I hope this column helps parents create a family learning culture that fosters good learning. We should all do our best to see every child become a Bode-learner. But if only half do this will be enough to transform the economy of Maine beyond recognition.

Seymour Papert is professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Computer Scientist at the University of Maine and a member of Maine Learning Technology Task Force. He may be contacted at Papert@midmaine.com.