Thomas Edison’s Crystal Ball
A Contrarian on Education’s Brave New Silicon World
Thomas Edison was a brainy fellow. In 1913, the future father of talking movies declared that “books will soon be obsolete in the schools.” He added a prophecy that would fit just fine in many 21st-century mouths: “Our school system will be completely changed in the next 10 years.”
I went to school three miles from Edison’s old laboratory. Every so often, we students would sit in the dark of our classroom while a cutting-edge Bell and Howell clicked along in the background. But nobody with a brain was exhorting our school to toss the books and park us in front of a well-oiled 16-millimeter Filmosound.
Today we’re up to our hips again in technology hype. Books are once more obsolete, while computers are vital for teaching everything from basic skills and critical thinking to problem-solving and creativity—all of which, without silicon, are doomed to become as dusty and...
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