We are told that seeing is believing and that what we read is so. Therefore when the government of Manitoba tells us in its official documents that technology is one of the four foundation skills, one’s first reaction is to accept that designation. Only later does a reaction set in, and by then it is often too late. This paper will argue that technology is not a foundation skill, because it is far more than that.

Why is technology not a foundation skill? For the simple reason that technology is not a skill. A skill is something that can be sharpened, honed, improved. Webster defines skill as "a learned power of doing something competently." Consider the three traditional foundation skills: reading, writing and arithmetic. These are clearly skills. You can improve your reading abilities. You can hone your writing skills. You can improve your computational/arithmetic competencies. But technology? How do you do technology competently? The idea is meaningless. You can’t become a more skillful technologist, because you can’t efficiently "technologize". You can of course become more skillful in using technologies, but that is not at the same level of the traditional basic skills.

Or consider the four foundation skills identified by Manitoba Education: communication, problem solving, human relations, and technology. There are skills involved in each of the first three of these. Each can be performed "competently". But not technology.

Indeed, technology seems to fit at a different level than all of these. You can improve your reading using technology; your writing using technology; and your arithmetic skills using technology. Likewise, technology can be used to assist in communications, problem solving and human relations. It seems, indeed, that technology is a kind of foundation for all of the other skills. Technology does not seem to fit on the same level or plane as either the three Rs or the three other contemporary Manitoba foundation skills. If anything, it is something more than this.

So, our first argument is that technology can’t be a foundation skill, because it really isn’t even a skill. A second argument is this: technology may not be foundational either. "Foundational" implies universality. Indeed, the classic 3Rs are universal. Although the origin of the popular song

Readin’, ‘ritin’. And ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of a hickory stick

is probably American, the idea has spread that the three basic and foundational elements of being educated are precisely that: "reading, ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic." This has become a truly foundational and universal statement of education. It is telling, of course, that the phrase carries with it the seeds of its own deconstruction. In fact, there are no 3Rs. In fact the words begin with r, w and a. The only way these can be seen as Rs is if one is illiterate, and can only understand by the sound alone. Any literate person knows that "readin’. ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic" connotes not learning, but the opposite! Still, the concept, even when deconstructed, is so strong, that it is universal.

The same cannot be said for the four Manitoba foundation skills of communications, problem solving and human relations and technology. These are local terms, determined by the Manitoba government. An altavista search on the Internet of "four foundation skills" will find a reference only to the province of Manitoba. This begs the question of what other provinces, territories, states or countries might consider as basic skills. But in the meantime, it is clear that only Manitoba has these "four foundation skills". This is hardly foundational, if it is limited to a population of some one million people in a world of several billion! In short, technology would seem to be neither foundational, nor a skill.

There is a further issue, which demands clarification with respect to how Manitoba sees technology. It needs to be emphatically stated that technology is not a computer. There is a powerful misconception circulating that the terms technology and computers are synonymous They are clearly not. Technology as product includes many non-computer technologies, from can-openers to bicycles, from VCRs to light bulbs. Technology may not even be a product, but is often considered a process. The technological paradigm is most usually a define-develop-utilize-evaluate procedure. Neither of these standard process or product definitions requires computers, even though the computer has certainly become a driving component of contemporary technology. Still, to equate technology with computers is blatantly short sighted. The Manitoba Education document is titled "Technology as a foundation skill", yet without exception, all the examples given in this document are of computer examples. The easy way out would be to change not the document, but the title of the document. "Computer usage as a foundation skill" would be a more accurate title. It would seem however that "computer usage" is hardly foundational, though certainly a significant skill.

But one might argue that the document in question refers to a specific kind of technology: information technology. What is information technology? The technology as a foundation skill document provides a glossary with this interesting, but misleading definition: Information technologies are defined (page 39) as "tools such as computers, software, printers, the Internet, automated library systems, scanners, projection devices and a variety of support materials used by teachers and students to enhance teaching and learning."

Any computer dictionary will refute that definition. Two alternatives are these: "the broad subject concerned with all aspects of managing and processing information, especially within a large organization or company" ( http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/I/IT.html) and "the technology of data processing / information management." ( www.currents.net/resources/dictionary/definition.phtml?lookup=2549)

As these two definitions suggest, the term "information technology" has absolutely no educational connotation. Information technology does not need the classroom, nor the teacher. Indeed, most information technology is totally outside the educational establishment. Information technology ... the intersection of information and technology exists in business, in industry, in entertainment, in government, and, yes, even in education. Information technology is all around us, and encompasses our daily lives. It is not exclusive to the classroom or the teacher.

Technology is clearly an elusive term. It is a broad, powerful and meaningful one. Technology is a state of mind. Technology is a kind of procedure. Technology is a culture. The human with technology is sometimes called a cyborg; yet a human without technology is not yet a human. Technology is a paradox. Webster’s dictionary defines technology as "the practical application of an art." A contradictory popular definition sees technology as the application of science. The paradox only deepens.

What is evident is that the term "technology", let alone its hybrid cousin "information technology" is a complex and deep construct. To dismiss technology as merely some sort of skill, some sort of ability to format computer discs or produce web-pages and understand a spreadsheet... this is not technology at all. Such a definition trivializes and demeans one of the most significant of human characteristics. If we dumb-down technology to a mere set of five or six basic time-bound current best uses of computers and their peripherals, we are not teaching technology, nor technological skills, nor technology literacy.

What is technology? Technology begins perhaps with a utilitarian function. When that function fades, the technology is de-contextualized and becomes art. Technology is form and function. Technology is cinema, from the silents, to the talkies, to Cinerama and Imax. Technology is the culture of television which Newton Minnow once called a "vast wasteland", to the best of TV news, documentary and public service. Technology is what allows literature to exist from Gutenberg’s first printing press to today’s e-books. Technology is the contemporary kitchen with fast frozen foods, microwaves and dishwashers, and technology is the long gone cellar of home canned products. Technology is how and where we live, and how we make our environment user-friendly. Technology extends our senses in unbelievable ways. We swim faster than the fish; we move faster than animals; We fly higher than birds. Technology is our culture, our science, our religion, our hopes and our dreams. Technology as a mere foundation skill? No way. Technology as tool? Never. Technology as a set of competencies? Of course not. Quite simply, Technology is us.