“Some sectors of human activity such as medicine, transportation and communications were transformed beyond recognition during the twentieth century. Compared with such megachange the practices of school have been virtually static.
There are in principle two diametrically opposed visions of the role of new technologies in education. In one vision the technology is a means to bolster and improve established practices. In the other, the new technology renders these practices obsolete by creating the opportunity for radically new practices.
It is impossible to think sensibly about change and resistance to change in education unless one recognizes that the Education Establishment will not easily depart from the first view. It is held there by its intellectual paradigms as much as by its bureaucratic self-interest. Its professional structure reflects a certain model of education. So does its political and its financial base.”
Technology in Schools: Local fix or Global Transformation?
Remarks by Seymour Papert for a House of Representatives Panel on Technology and Education on October 12, 1995.