Jeff McQuillan: Books before bytes

Jeff McQuillan: "Books before bytes"
re (Michael Hiltzik)

Sent to the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 5, 2012
To the Editor:

Kudos to Michael Hiltzik for his column ("Hyping tech will not help students," February 5) criticizing federal officials for overselling the benefits of technology to K-12 schools. As co-producer of the most popular educational podcast in the world (ESLPod.com's English as a Second Language Podcast), I'm no enemy of new technology.

But our students need nutrition, health care, quality teachers and librarians, and (especially here in California) something to read in their near-empty school libraries, the worst in the nation. iPads, iPods, and Kindles are great, but first things first: books before bytes.

Jeff McQuillan, Ph.D.
Co-producer of English as a Second Language Podcast,
former Associate Professor of Education, California State University, Fullerton,
and author of The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions (1998)

Original article:http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120205,0,639053.column
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