RSSAs an unruly second grader I often endured the chalk-throwing rage of Mrs. Seaman (*giggle*). Not much fun, but at least I wasn't being corporally punished by these "watchful robots that rap students on the head if they lose focus or act up."
This vision of the future, ominously entitled "The Rise of the Computerized School", was illustrated by Shigeru Komatsuzaki for an article in a 1969 Shōnen Sunday magazine. The "Computopia" feature predicted that by 1989 our lives would be equal parts carefree and terrifying thanks to the pervasiveness of computers, telecommuting teachers, and pugilistic enforcer robots.
[via Pink Tentacle] [Thanks, Contorto!]
Excellent, can we get those at the next Maker Faire to keep the little ones captive in the Lego Gulag?
Reply to this comment
If you'll notice, he's getting a beatin' not for misbehaving but for answering incorrectly.
My guess is that he didn't actually get it wrong but that it was a typo on his horribly small touch sensitive input pad.
Reply to this comment
This would have been our destiny if the 60s hadn't made us so damn squishy... :) Computers Banzai!!
Reply to this comment
check out the bigger head smackers suspended from the ceiling! Niiiiiiice...
Reply to this comment
WRONG! YOUR ANSWER IS IN ERROR! (whack, whack, whack)
Wow, and that concept is from MY lifetime! Don't get me wrong, some kids deserve a swat upside the head, but in school, by a teacher, by an enforcement machine? I was always a kid who took stuff apart, that robot would be 1st on my list. Of course having a hate list in school today is a crime, probably if the beating-bot is on it too.
Reply to this comment
To paraphrase the host of the "Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show," "Your schools reward knowledge -- we punish ignorance!"
Reply to this comment
Now wait a minute. I remember reading that Beethoven's piano teacher used to beat him horribly for missing a note while playing. See how it helped him acheive. Perhaps if I'd been beaten by these machines, I'd be head engineer at NASA. Oops, I spelled achieve wrong... (whack, whack, whack!)
Reply to this comment