Non-neutrality of Technology

I have recently finished Andrew Feenberg's Questioning Technology.... it is a book on the philosophy of technology from last century. He responds to many of the philosophers who presented ideas about technology and how technology influences society. Such authors have been on my reading list for most of the winter and spring, and so I was surprised when I found myself-- while reading the final chapter of his book-- coming to the conclusion that the reason schools have not changed since the arrival of digital technologies is that we have ignored the influences technologies have on how we think and communicate. Many scholars refer to this as the non-neutrality of technology.

So, if technology is non-neutral-- which it is-- then any attempts to integrate it into what we are already doing in our schools is sure to fail. Our schools emerged in response to other technologies and other social systems. Those technologies and systems are largely irrelevant today. Once we all realize that, then we can go about the work of reinventing our schools and our practices to reflect the new realities.