Give Me Pen and Paper Anytime

A recent editorial (July 7, The Shame of Texas) derided the State School Board for making technology courses elective and not mandatory. I believe the concern was misdirected. Rather than condemning the State Board, I want ask who approved a “Complex” for anything. What is the difference between “dean” and “principal”? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars were sucked out of the Language Arts department to pay for this boondoggle?

Needing a part time employee I received over a hundred resumes from UNT undergraduates. That means they already passed the “rigorous” high school exit exams and were in college. Every resume was send by email and composed using word processing software. Therefore, they knew how to use “technology”.

However, many could not form a complete sentence much less a complete thought. The idea of sentence structure was completely missing. More than one had the word “I” written “i”. Telephone interviews revealed a lack of proper language skills. What good is the use of technology if they don’t know the basics of our language?

I have interviewed many people over the years and not a single time did I ask about computer skills. If you do not have command of the English language and cannot communicate the written word you need not apply.

Take all those computers and throw them out. Pen and paper are less expensive and can teach a young person more than a computer program ever will. I have never taken a computer course or even typing. My computing skills are above average because I did it the old-fashioned way – on my own.