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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

is it possible to opt out of using computers within the state system?

165 replies

zebramummy · 31/07/2009 20:46

i hate computers - i know, i am sitting here staring at one - however, i managed to avoid them until i started working in my twenties and yes, they were around prior to this mainly for wordprocessing, designing and games although email and internet had not really taken off. i have always felt privately disgusted by the two computers at ds' nursery and i strongly believe that they are completely uneccesary and have no place within an early years setting. i have heard about ICT at school and i am starting to get the feeling that it is a non-negotiable part of school-life. am i the only person who feels this way?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:03

what age would you suggest?

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:03

what age would you suggest?

georgimama · 01/08/2009 23:05

Does anyone not, NAO? Does any parent actively set out to harm their children? I doubt it.

I'm struggling to see what is best about them being denied access to a currency of language that will negatively affect their ability to progress in the world as it is, rather than as you would like it to be. It's like deciding you don't believe in the number 17. Whether you like it or not, it's there.

VanillaPumpkin · 01/08/2009 23:05

Like it or not, this generation we are raising are digital natives, (unlike us who are digital immigrants).
Using technology is almost natural/ second nature. They have no fear.
It once worried me that my dc may have lost some of the wonder of it all, but then my dd's were wonderfully amazed by the blossom that appeared on the trees in our garden (following a week away) so I don't think all is lost at all.

And as Mrz says it will be a key curriculum subject (replacing Science??) if Sir Jim Rose gets his way).

pointydog · 01/08/2009 23:05

certainly by high school, so 11/12.

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:09

georgimama

i have child who is almost 17
his life is wonderful and i am so in awe of his achievements
far more than i had ever done by his age and it is all down to him..

his choices are his own now

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:10

'being denied access to a currency of language that will negatively affect their ability to progress in the world as it is'

this is YOUR belief system

georgimama · 01/08/2009 23:12

It's not so much a belief system (what a grandoise term for whether or not you use a computer) as an observation. How would someone who opts out of IT pay for car parking at an NCP, for example?

His choices may be his own, but the maternal disapproval must be pretty hard to bear.

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:28

really not so georgimama

he laughs in the face of my disapproval

he now sees the benefit in our style of child rearing...

he is too busy with his life to care about it now

FAQtothefuture · 01/08/2009 23:30

NaO - I hope we're all still here posting in 30yrs time on Gransnet to see if he's stuck to the same child rearing philosophy as you

MilaMae · 01/08/2009 23:39

I agree to some extent but you're just going to have to except it. I hate whizzy toys and all these screen things you hear about.

In my dtwins rec class the interactive white board seems to be on all day. It's used in most whole class sessions(ie the teaching bits). IMHO it would be pointless going to school if you were going to have him pulled out every time it was on. He'd miss all the whole class bits,instructions and wouldn't have a clue what he was supposed to be doing.

I've had to compromise by having no computers on at home they just don't need it after being in front of a whiteboard all day,playing on the class computer and in a computer suite twice a week. They have very limited access on our Apple at the weekend for a treat now and again.

MY dp writes software.Our dc have had very limited access to computers at home and they are very advanced computer users. I don't know if this is genetic or just typical of all kids, I'm suspecting the later.

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:42

'How would someone who opts out of IT pay for car parking at an NCP, for example?'

a mediocre iq should suffice

FAQtothefuture · 01/08/2009 23:43

well I couldn't figure out how to use one of those things recently - I have a decent enough IQ - and I'm very computer literate

NotanOtter · 01/08/2009 23:47

faq he keeps encouraging me to have more dcs

i have enough already

forget the screening issue - its not pro- creating that i worry about for them

they can hate me for screens but i do not want to put them off parenting!

FAQtothefuture · 01/08/2009 23:50

LOL NaO

othersideofthefence · 01/08/2009 23:53

zebramummy I can't imagine an infant or junior classroom where using ICT equipment takes the place of reading and writing using books.
I'm pro- ICT in the classroom but it is to enhance learning, not to take the place of practical work and teaching of basic skills.

FAQtothefuture · 02/08/2009 00:04

judging from the large folder full of recycling work my DS2 brought home from his reception year they definitely still do written stuff - and he reads proper books too

LynetteScavo · 02/08/2009 09:00

Has anyone mentioned white boards? Doesn't every class room have them now? Don't white boards make computers and non-negotioable part of school life?

Original poster

zebramummy · 02/08/2009 09:24

thanks yurtgirl.
re interactive whiteboards, i'd better not start on those. ds' nursery has one too - it is used to support the viewing of tv progs as far as i can see. whilst the pupil:computer ratio is not that high in nursery, the same children appear to be sitting at the machines for hours at a time - it is almost as if they hold onto them for the rest of the session if they are fortunate enough to hog one at the start. come reception they have access to a whole ICT suite and the ratio is 2:1 all of a sudden

OP posts:

LynetteScavo · 02/08/2009 09:31

zebramummy - I wouldn't be too keen on computers in nursery either. I was pleased DS1's nursery didn't have computers - although Ofsted weren't impressed about it.

Having an ICT suit means the children will be elarning how to use the computers, rather than just playing on them for long periods.

White boards can be a fantastic learning aids.

PuppyMonkey · 02/08/2009 09:31

Lol at this thread. Maybe one day you'll have something serious to worry about instead.

georgimama · 02/08/2009 09:45

What I quite clearly meant about the NCP is not so much how they would manage to use one, as they someone who takes your attitude to ICT would manage to not use the damned stuff in everyday life (other than by living alone in a yurt on the Outer Hebrides). It is pervasive - hence the reason it is used pervasively in education.

skidoodle · 02/08/2009 10:13

I love computers, I work in multimedia production and spend whatever spare time I can rustle up these days working on tech projects of one kind or another.

I think the op and nao have a very valid point, and I too will be careful about how my children are introduced to computers and how they use them.

The washing macine analogy is weak, but I wonder if people think it would have been a good use of their time at school to have been taught to use one? How about a photocopier? Or a fax machine?

Consumer-grade productivity software doesn't need to be taught at school any more than programming a VCR. Teach them to write algorithms or how binary works if you want them to understand computers.

It's embarrassing the number that had been done on schools by ed tech companies and money is being wasted on stupid gadgets that are nothing but expensive baubles.

The hostility on this thread to people questioning an education system that is the laughing stock of the developed world is, I suppose, some kind of indication that a lack of critical thinking is nothing new in English schools.

ZZZenAgain · 02/08/2009 10:53

why do you say the education system isthe laughing stock of the developed world?

I have to admit I will be quite relieved pleased if dd learns to do all the things with PCs that I don't know how to do. However I don't find it really essential to be computer literate at primary school age.

BonsoirAnna · 02/08/2009 11:10

I felt very proud when DD (4.9) explained to me how to access the photo library and how to take pictures on DP's iPhone .

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