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> For instance, people did lament the invention of calculators, saying it would harm kids' ability to do mental arithmetic. And it did. > Fortunately for us, w
by etblg 1y ago
> For instance, people did lament the invention of calculators, saying it would harm kids' ability to do mental arithmetic. And it did.
> Fortunately for us, we replaced those skills with technology that allowed us to do something analogous to them, but faster and more easily.
Don't kids still learn to do arithmetic in their head first? I haven't been in a school in decades but I remember doing it all sans calculator in elementary school. When you move on up to higher level stuff you end up using a calculator, but it's not like we skip that step entirely, do we?
- aminsadeghi 1y agoExactly! Steph Ango (Obsidian creator) has said it well in his "Don't delegate understanding" essay: https://stephango.com/understand https://stephango.com/understand
- karaterobot 1y agoI bet they do, but it's not a question of learning the skills in school. It's more about using those skills, which I don't think is as common today.