Digitization is an experiment on our children

The Digital Pact is decided with the vote of the Federal Council of 15 March, it is expected to come into force before Easter. It will invest a total of 5.5 billion euros in the digital endowment of general education schools over a period of five years.


For the educator, media scientist and author Ralf Lankau of the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg, the project has a neoliberal thrust - with the goal of privatization and commercialization of the school system and the dressing of children to "function monkeys". The interview was conducted by Ralf Wurzbacher.

The Digital Pact is decided with the vote of the Federal Council of 15 March, it is expected to come into force before Easter. It will invest a total of 5.5 billion euros in the digital endowment of general education schools over a period of five years. For the educator, media scientist and author Ralf Lankau of the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg, the project has a neoliberal thrust - with the goal of privatization and commercialization of the school system and the dressing of children to "function monkeys". The interview was conducted by Ralf Wurzbacher.

Spilleautomater gratis på nett is an originally mechanical, later electromechanical and today mostly electronically functioning, screen-based device that starts after coin insertion, entering a banknote or a valuable ticket game history, the result of which is determined by chance and player operations. Motive to play are entertainment and hope for a profit.

Mr. Lankau, there is a "Digital Education Forum", which is supported by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, among others. On its website, the "non-profit organization", which offers digitization of education "declares a variety of added value for teaching and learning. It can make our education system better and contribute positively to educational equality and an inclusive society in which everyone can develop their individual potential better. "That sounds very different from what you expect from the federal and state-wide digital pact:" The deci- Humanization of schools ". What do you mean by that?

In your quote, almost all the phrasing confetti has been bundled with the IT industry and its lobbyists for over 30 years. These are the usual standard pronouncements that have been repeated manageably since 1984, since the introduction of personal computers in schools. Only the respective supposedly "modern and absolutely necessary for teaching" technology is changing: from PC to laptop, today tablets, soon it will be virtual reality glasses for which school applications are already being developed. And always the new devices are supposedly mandatory for modern teaching, would increase the motivation of the students and the learning success. It is a constant déjà vu.

Let's start from the very beginning. What did the pc do in class or not, what should make the tablet even better today?

In other words: Who has the use of PCs in schools because something, except the hardware and software providers? And IT service providers have configured the devices and networks if that is not done by a teacher "by the side". For this purpose, Microsoft has managed to train students in several schools in office programs. But what makes tablets better today is a real mystery to me. These are not serious tools like a laptop or a PC, which you configure with appropriate hardware and software according to your own requirements.

Tablets are from the technical concept and the operating philosophy of consumer electronics for adults, as Apple's founder Steve Jobs once formulated. They are designed to let you "get informed quickly online" or medially sedate with videos, series and games. You can not work meaningfully with it. The work surface is far too limited and working with it is not ergonomic, neither on the table nor on the lap. There are no input devices like keyboard, mouse or joystick. It makes sense to separate therefore media consumption and entertainment from working, even through the use of appropriate equipment. That should be designed in schools as well

That sounds like you could at least get something out of the use of PCs or laptops in the classroom ...

Of course, digital technology is a powerful and helpful tool if you know what you do with it and set up your environment in such a way that you have the sovereignty over the data and applications yourself. Therefore, I am calling for all prospective teachers to receive intensive training in the use of all sorts of teaching media, both analog and digital. 

Doctors warn against tablets and smartphones for children

Mobile media are part of everyday life for many children today. Doctors see this critically - the early media use many health problems. It also does not help the little ones get along better in the digital world.
During long car rides, they play "Angry Birds" on Papa's tablet, in the evening they are allowed to watch "Shaun the Sheep" on the computer for half an hour. Smartphones, tablets and computers are now part of children's everyday lives, just like cassettes and gameboys used to be.

However, according to pediatricians, despite recent developments, they remain harmful to the mental development of children. "We pediatricians are convinced of significant health and psychological impairments, see them daily in our practices," says Till Reckert from the Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ). There is also a danger that children would be neglected because their parents prefer to work with their smartphones, says the pediatrician. "Great challenges will come here."

Increase in overwork, headache and ADHD

Physicians find a worrying increase in overwork, headaches, ADHD and mental illnesses associated with the growing use of digital media as problems. "Preschoolers must first learn to cope with their bodies, their emotions, the world and other people more and more freely," says Reckert. Screen media are there almost exclusively a hindrance.

The expert particularly criticizes the children's lack of experience in dealing with technology: "In everyday life, one often unfortunately observes a rather unsympathetic behavior of the digital natives towards their little ones." Without the necessary basic understanding, children are often overwhelmed and beaten to death by the sheer endless information and possibilities of the devices.

The expert holds little of the argument that children should be introduced to digital technology as early as possible in order to cope later with an increasingly digitized world of work: "In our practices, we see the opposite: the more and the earlier media consumption in children and adolescents Adolescence, the greater the likelihood that children will not cope well with life and then with media, "said Reckert. "I suspect: Googling early and exclusively to get to his information will later become a poorer researcher."

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