opinons on computer labs in education

Here in Brazil it's also a hard thing to work out. There's computer labs in almost every public school, but in almost every kid's minds, computer equals games and internet. They don't really are much into learning so-called boring softwares like Word or Power Point. I think the best way to engage a kid into computer teaching is making it the most cool and entertaining experience possible. I mean, if they're learning Word, for example, give them a funny reason to learn it. Something like "I'll tell some sentences, and the student who types faster will be the winner of the day, and will earn some candy." I guess it could work. Kids will learn typewriting and have fun at the same time.

I am 70 years old and have seen this world go from battery radios and the old crank wall telephones to what we have now. At this point in time this world is moving so fast in so many different directions a computer is the only way to keep up with it. I look for much of our education system to be on computer before long. I figure this is the route Public schools will take sooner or later. It would cost much less to educate a child from K thru even 4 years of college on computers than is does in a class room. Sooner or later the States are going to be forced to go this route because of the cost to operate our public school systems. This could be one of the best things that has happened to our kids in a long time. For one thing you could have a lot more control over your children and get them away from a lot of other kids that are not the best thing for them. Computers puts unlimited information at our finger tips and also gives us the ability to communicate in real time with anyone we wish world wide that also has a computer. Personally I think the best computer training we can afford for our kids is the best way to go. I have a little 8 year old Great Grand Daughter that lives with me and I think she is proof of the true value of good computer skills. I started letting her on my computer when she was about 3. She just started 3rd grade a few days ago and can do about anything she wants to on a computer. In fact the computer has taught her a lot more than she has learned in the class room. Kids are more interested in computers than they are live teachers in a class room. They learn much easier and quicker on a computer and have access to a lot more information than a teacher can give them. Art

My experience is that, when I take my students to the lab, there are seldom really good software programs for them, so they try to sneak in games or over-ride the blocks made by the school system to get on their e-mail or Facebook or something similar. There are too often not enough working computers, as schools seldom have enough technical help or necessary parts to fix huge numbers of problems. The labs are a great idea, but in practice, they seldom work out.