A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all
The Waldorf School in Silicon Valley, California, teaches their students without any technology in the classrooms.  This is an alternative method of teaching and its presence in Silicon Valley, the heart of the computer industry, highlights the ongoing debate about technology's role in education.
Stakeholders: Parents, students, teachers, the technology industry
Social and Ethical Issues:

• People and Machines: Will they be able to learn tech skills later in life?  Do we need technology to teach?
• Equality of Access: Is this somehow artificially making the students unequal with the rest of society?

Areas of Impact: Government, Education, Science, Employment, Education
My opinion: I am not sure.  While I support alternate views of education and the concept that not all technology must be embraced simply because it is there, I also believe that technology has a place.  A lot of what they are doing teaches life skills that people are perhaps lacking who learn solely on technology, but certain skills that are taught that way are not as relevant as they were when this program began, and we learn skills not related to technology even though we use it.  For example, I can multiply 4 times 5 in my head easily, just as well as they can, despite having grown up with calculators.  I think that judgment on this issue should wait until a few classes have graduated this program and we can see how well they do in college, workplace, and life compared to graduates of more tech-accepting schools.
Do I agree: Kind of.  There is not really a reason to use technology in the classroom in the first few grades, and learning handwriting, mental math, and language skills is important, but I think that once doing these without a computer has been mastered, there is no point in not using one, as it makes the same work faster and easier without detracting from quality.
Some positives and negatives:

• Positives: Easier to write papers, kids learn from young age to use technology, more prepared for business environment, grading and submission of work is easier
• Negatives: Taught early to need technology, become "addicted" to tech stuff when very young, kids do not know how to interact