On beauty, truth, love, and integrity

Pretzer analyzes what he calls the “five basic categories of rationales for studying technology” in K-12 schools today. Through this analysis the author looks at personal and national utilitarianism, national security, technologically literates, and applied problem solving. He presents a different perspective emphasizing the need for the development of (1) “leadership, communication skills; quantification skills, interpersonal relations, and the ability to work in teams; … the capacity to adapt to rapid change” (p. 3), (2) citizenry, (3) cooperation and collaboration, (4) goal, values and principles, and (5) human progress.

Learning about and with technology cannot have as its main goal the use of technology. Technology is more than anything else a tool, an instrument, a gizmo, a gadget, an artifact that should help us accomplish a task, solve a problem, share ideas, develop a product, collaborate with others, and work together from afar.

I agree with Pretzer when he states: “Learning technology is essential precisely because it situates learners as participants in the process, provides them with real contexts for their actions, and requires them to reflect about the process” (p. 11). Note that this means that technology is used for a lot more than drill and practice, that it is used to develop critical thinking skills.

Pretzer understands that through technology students should not only learn cognitive skills, but also affective skills, and that history should always remind us where we have been. Learning from the past can only help us improve the future. As always, the ultimate goal of education should be the development of values and ethics.


Reference:

Pretzer, W.S. (1997). Technology education and the search for truth, beauty, and love. Journal of Technology Education, 8(2). Retrieved on May 13, 2002 from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournal/JTE/v8n2/pretzer.jte-v8n2.html.