Is technology a silver bullet?

If you believe some people, I have lived a charmed life.

When I was a small child, I used my family's PC to type up assignments for class and play games like "Think Quick!" and the original "Math Blasters" in MS-DOS.

Later, in middle school, I used the Internet for the first time. In my free time, I would visit chat rooms and research how to become a Jedi Knight and construct a lightsaber.

In college, I did much of my research on the Internet. One night, I stayed up until daylight, when I finally discovered that Joseph Jefferson was the oldest actor ever to appear in films.

Has all this exposure to technology made me smarter? Of course, I'd like to think so, but I don't think that's really the case.

I've learned the most and derived the greatest pleasure from good old-fashioned books - you know, those things made of paper with all the words in them.

Remarks made by Community Unit District 300 school board President Joe Stevens prompted me to reflect on my experience with technology.

As far as I know, Stevens was the only one to publicly question the district's decision to buy some 200 interactive whiteboards for use in classrooms across the district.

At Monday's board meeting, Stevens spoke about a recent demonstration he had witnessed of the interactive whiteboards in the classroom.

"I was not impressed with the way it was being used," Stevens said. "It was being used as a glorified whiteboard. If this is only used as a glorified whiteboard, this is a big mistake."

Uh oh. Did he just question the magical ability of expensive technology to transform lives and turn struggling students into Doogie Howser?

Stevens then went on to vote with the rest of the board in favor of the SMART boards, named after the company that manufactures them.

But his comment was the needed lemon juice to the olive oil dished out by some of Stevens' district colleagues.

They way some folks talk about technology and SMART boards, it's a wonder Western civilization has thrived this long without fancy gizmos.

"This is vital to our students' learning," board member Monica Clark said Monday. "There is no way to avoid this at all."

Really? A few weeks ago, I witnessed students from the dual language program at Liberty Elementary School introduce themselves at a school board meeting in perfect Spanish.

Did they learn the language from a computer program, an interactive whiteboard or a particle collider?

I'm not saying technology cannot be one of several tools teachers can use to illustrate concepts in the classroom.

But especially at a time when people are losing their jobs and homes, I'm glad Stevens questioned whether the district should be spending three quarters of a million dollars (yes, it's referendum money, but so what?) on what some seem to view as a silver bullet for public education.