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Comment by cyberax | Hacker News Reader

We need to remove technology out of the school entirely (outside of computer science classes).

No iPads instead of books, only manual note-taking, regular blackboards/whiteboards instead of projectors, no calculators, and so on.

Non of that paper stuff! Stone tablets only.

Would abaci be too high tech?

"You won't always have an abacus in your pocket."

Abaci would actually probably be good for making mental math come naturally.

As a general rule, i am on team - if you need a calculator in math class then you aren't learning math.

Because if you're studying real math, a calculator wouldn't help?

Pretty much. You either do every calculation symbolically, or you need a full-blown computer for numeric methods.

Either that, or you are trying to teach people arithmatic, in which case having them do it by hand is a benefit.

We learned to use them in elementary school (1970s)!

It was what I think they now call a "manipulative" as way to teach place value, addition, and multiplication.

An interesting question, actually. It feels like they can be a good teaching tool, compared to calculators.

No. Paper and handwriting is great.

For a subset of the population who are manually adept. Excluding modalities from school isn't productive.

You become manually adept by practicing.

And of course, people who physically can't write need to have specialized curriculae. Just like we have them for deaf or dyslexic kids.

100% agree for elementary school, probably up until high school even.