mes new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">It has never been abo=
ut education of technology or the technology of education. I wrote the 250 =
page doctrine that put computers in the classroom in 1984. As I stated then=
, it was about leveling the playing field for children to learn faster than=
just at their pace. Studies back then showed that the computer being model=
ed after a TV, and using students how to use the computer, they get it in t=
heir mind that they are controlling the magic screen that they think is the=
TV, and in doing so, they learned at a quicker pace. My First Alphabet had=
children as young as 4 reading and achieving a high vocabulary!

But=
when you miss those basic skills of reading, writings and mathematics; the=
n you have done more harm than good to the child when placing them in front=
of the computer. Let me give the case of the "Child Prodigy Program"
(the CPP) of mid 1970s. Created and funded by Edward Teller (That Eward Te=
ller) certain children who were highly gifted in specific skills were only =
taught those skills. If a child excelled in math, then they only taught mat=
h to that child. It became harder and harder to teach children other subjec=
ts after two years of this progam. When funding ended, and the City was in =
a money crisis, Mayor Beame killed the program, pushing for the IGC (Intell=
igently Gifted Child) program instead. Nearly all of the CPP children went =
into the ICG program, and they were forced to stay away from their gifted s=
kills and to learn everything that they should have been taught in regular =
classes from the beginning. Children in the CPP who were multifacetted in t=
heir skills, those who had more than one ability did better than those with=
a single ability. A boy named John, was a mechanical genius, and for the 3=
years he was in the program, they gave him small machines to figure
out and if broken - fix it. With him it got to a point where he repaired a=
1600 century clock and a car's transmission. He was labeled Special Ed bec=
ause he was minimal in his regular academic skills. Another child who was M=
ath, Music and Science skilled, did well enough to graduate from Brooklyn T=
ech in 1981. He was me.

To present date: I was handed what I was tol=
d as a severely retarded girl. She has a long history of immigration issues=
even though she and her brother were born here in the states making them c=
itizens but their parents were illegal. She and her family was deported to =
Mexico when she was 6 months old. Add a shlock lawyer trying to make a name=
for himself and 10 years in the world court, it was decided that the child=
ren have to return to the USA, and her parents brought with them as well. M=
oney money damages were awarded as well. During these 10 years, the girl ne=
ver went to school and worked on a family farm. If she went to any
school it was one of those old one room schools with children of many grad=
es in one class. She did speak and write Spanish well, but here in NYC she =
was tested in English and from her low score, labeled retarded.

I wa=
s given her to teach her one on one to get her to minimal skills. I discove=
red there was nothing wrong with the child other than being a Native Spanis=
h speaking person. So I managed to get her back into a normal classroom set=
ting, translating the work into Spanish for her. At the same time I tutored=
her in English. Apparently she did so well under me that the school board =
thought that some form of cheating was done - here is a girl labeled as ret=
arded going exceptional on her state wide exams! She was tested and reteste=
d, in front of investigators, translators, special education experts, psych=
ologists - you name it they were there. She passed every test threw at her =
and one so called expert dared to bring finger print and DNA testing
on the girl. When it was explained that I was her teacher, I explained it =
to them that they fucked up in called her retarded and has mislabeled her a=
ccordingly when she should have been labeled as English Deficient - Native =
Spanish Language person.

Because of this, it makes me wonder how man=
y children are in this position, how many are left to suffer or things they=
already in another language. In working with Arabic kids, I noticed that t=
hey do math differently but always arrive at the same answer as in the text=
book way but they are made to suffer relearning it the school's way. Puttin=
g these children in front of a computer would do nothing for them. Nothing =
at all. They require a proper assessment and not pigeon holing them into le=
arning deficient categories when they dont belong there.

Sometimes i=
ts the school's fault in not providing proper services. Other times its the=
school board. In the cases above, its both. It is the school's
direction under Bloomberg that kids are made to suffer. He dont care how t=
he grades are achieved, as long as they are achieved but while not giving t=
he schools the proper materials to do their jobs. Putting the best kids in =
the so-called best schools, and the worst kids in the worst schools and exp=
ect them to be equal on all terms is a farce. Teachers can only do what the=
y can with what little they got.