Technology and the Classroom

April 25, 2006

Writing for a British audience, Oxford professor of pharmacology Susan Greenfield explores a few possible implications of bio-, nano-, and info-technologies on 21st century education, and calls for a diverse coalition to work to consider seriously both the benefits and burdens of technological advancements.

The first third of the article is most directly applicable to bioethics, but a recurring theme throughout the article is the unintended consequences of new technologies.

We must consider the cost of enhancing certain ways of thinking and behaving. Drugs and other technologies used to increase concentration and reduce disruptive behaviour may suppress creativity, spontaneity and calculated risk-taking. If these drugs are widely used, we are in danger of squeezing children into a particular mould, turning our schools into factories that produce a single, standard product.