Men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau 

Point to Ponder.

I often wonder about "computer literacy" and other similar classes taught--and required--at most public schools today. I am not at all against the use of technology, but I find it puzzling at times that we spend years and years teaching students how to use the computers at their disposal, quite often predominantly focusing on function. At times, the classroom teacher feels compelled to essentially short-change students when it comes to exposing them to other curricula, or they try to teach the curricula via technology, "killing two birds," as it were, "with one stone." Students first need to be taught how to think, to question, to plan and follow a line of inquiry; the computer, and all other forms of related technologies, are tools. We don't spend enough time helping students formulate good questions, or to think in ways that make newer and deeper connections. This task takes time, and thought, and not rushing forward to search out someone else's answers. The computer is an awesome tool, but one must also teach students to respect its limitations as well. If we don't know what we are hoping to find out, what we want to achieve, then we are driving the information highway without a destination; we won't know when we have "gotten there."