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Response to Postman

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English 102 Professor Hanson March 12, 2014 Reading Response for Postman How is Postman’s argument similar to or different from Baron’s. (Hint: it’s more than “they are both discussing technology’s impact on education).

To start off, when I began reading postman’s “Virtual Students, Digital Classroom” piece I felt very open minded with how the piece started off with questions. When I first started reading Baron’s it was more like facts being thrown at me and intriguing me. Yes Postman’s argument is similar in the fact that they are both discussing technology’s impact on education, but how they differ is quite interesting. Postman talks about what others are talking about new technology. He is deducing what Ravitch is saying when it comes to how new technologies make new kinds of people and also Ravitch’s conception of the future. The main difference between Postman and Baron’s argument is that Postman’s is more about how technology is affection students, kids, and time goes on they are changing. While Baron’s argument is more arguing about how technology has affected society as well as writing. Personally as much as I thought Baron’s piece was interesting, Postman’s piece really stands out to me. A part that really got to me was when he says, “ These are serious matters, they need to be discussed by those who know something about children from the planet Earth, and whose vision of children’s needs, and the needs of society, go beyond thinking of school mainly as a place for the convenient distribution of information.” It put me a mindset of whether or not the computer is ‘good’ for humans. I agree with the fact that there is so much more information outside of school than inside, and Postman’s example with ‘Little Eva’ definitely stuck with me as well. Great piece!!!

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