As a child I was given a pocket calculator in school to make schoolwork easier. Instead, the opposite happened, because I had to learn arithmetic both with and without the calculator. Today the computer represents the same kind of situation, just on a greater scale. Students must learn to write, do math, draw, find information and communicate, both with a computer and without. Furthermore they have to take the time to learn about the computer’s facilities and limitations. Learning these things can easily become a full-time study because the computer and its tools are merely an ephemeral phenomenon. Computers were invented to help us save time, but in reality we are spending more and more time saving time by using time-saving technology.

All the operations of a computer are based on logic, but they are rarely implemented on the basis of logic - on the contrary. The implementation of computers in schools follows the same line of reasoning as a child who wants ice cream. The child might see a candy store and think that getting an ice cream will solve all his or her problems, but as most adults know, in most cases ice cream will just enhance the child’s craving. The same principle applies to computers. Since the beginning of time, humans have been in search of a miracle cure to do away with all our problems. It’s no surprise that, in modern society, machines handling information have been accepted as the ultimate cure for all problems. If a specialist tells you to take medicine that doesn’t work you might end up believing that the medicine is good and that you are the problem. Maybe you’re not taking enough, or you’re taking it the wrong way or at the wrong time. Computer experts can speak a language most people do not understand. Our fear of the computer experts makes us fill up our schools with fragile, time-consuming technology that creates a mental block. Suddenly the kids are unable to act without a computer. If a school’s computers are down, you’ll see the children swarming out of the classrooms. We call this progress, but not being able to work without a computer is not what I would define as progress. The big question is: Do we want our children to become technology junkies at an early age? But is the computer only harmful? No! Just like the automobile, the computer has a number of advantages, although it’s considerably more habit-forming and demanding of attention than a car. One often hears the misconception that the computer is a “creative machine”, but creativity comes from within a human being, not from a machine.

Computers are not the first case of schools making panic-stricken decisions. When I was a child it was decided that the pupils should learn mathematics. Mathematics was seen as a creative subject and was incorporated into the curriculum. The students had to learn set theory, equations and the calculus of probability. As a result of this I spent many hours of my childhood learning to be fluent in the formal language of mathematics. How many adults of today can explain how to solve a quadratic equation or explain what to use it for? Looking at society there’s no doubt that the students would have gained more by spending the time getting to know them-selves better.

Regularly one hears politicians declaring that computer experts will obtain all the exciting jobs in the future, while the rest will become losers. To me, this says more about the politicians than the future. A good teacher, receptionist, business leader or nurse is someone who understands people – not technology. Or what about the great writers, journalists, psychologists, philosophers, politicians or football players, for that matter? Had they gotten further in life if they’d been equipped with a laptop computer as a child? The answer to this question is precisely that these people have been able to immerse themselves in their own field, in their own way, thereby achieving something totally unique. Maybe there is another way of looking at the future: The losers may well be people who spent too much of their childhood in front of a screen.

But what must be done so that the computer doesn’t wind up being the child’s security blanket? Naturally, we must make sure that kids get a good idea of what a computer has to offer. The computer is here to stay but it ought to make us ask a long series of new questions. It is essential that teachers be trained to become inspiring facilitators – not technical experts. It is important that students learn to think for themselves and that they learn skills that won’t be outdated in a year’s time. Maybe they can learn everything they need without the latest technology. Basic technical skills can just as well be learned on old computers.

Schools should not be oriented only towards facts and tools that make the students no more creative or insightful than a computer nerd. At the moment we’re in the process of supplying our children with knowledge of tools. Tools that look considerably different by the time the children finish school. I myself spent many years working as a computer expert and most of my knowledge was outdated by the time I’d been out of the business for less than two years. Today – many years later I’m merely a computer novice asking a question: What is the environmental and economic cost of basing the learning process on complicated, energy-consuming technologies that have to be replaced more and more often?

The answer is blowing in the wind around our cities’ garbage dumps.

Therefore, some good advice to parents: Make sure your children learn to think for themselves – it’s a priceless skill that will never become obsolete.