On Papert's Mindstorms
In looking at learning it is not enough to look at "learning how to learn" (ie. concentrate on the learner) but we need to study the basic structure of the subject itself.
Computers will not create an educational revolution. Forget about computers (for a minute!); culture is central to change! Papert is not a mechanical technological determinist. He is more on about reconceptualising traditional subject domains and using, in this instance, the computer as a tool to help do this. Since culture is central to change then it follows that a teacher ought to aspire to be an anthropologist. The computer is merely one important recent addition to the cultural landscape. The question that the anthropologist/teacher ought to focus on is rather than figuring out what we want for the culture, Papert states we need to figure out what it is in the culture that can change and which cultural materials are relevant to intellectual development.
The computer will not replace the teacher. On the contrary, teachers will have to become more skilled to incorporate the new technology into the overall educational context.
With claiming that the teacher ought to be an anthropologist, Papert contrast with the phrase New Math (420).
Papert politicises the educational debate in a highly practical way.
