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# Technology will widen student divide if we let it
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/technology-will-widen-student-divide-if-we-let-it-2/
- Published: 2006-07-11T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T18:50:21.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*WHAT’S THE POINT?*

This column is being dictated and transcribed electronically. By the use of a microphone connected to my computer, and the latest technology for voice recognition, my computer is able to understand what I’m saying and translate that into written words on the page. I’m also able to use a digital voice recorder, which records my speech, and by use of another computer program, is able to transcribe that recording into a document.

The ability for someone like me, a professional, whether they be a doctor, a lawyer, or a management executive, to dictate a letter that is subsequently transcribed electronically and will require a minimum amount of effort to correct the typos or wrong transcriptions is going to radically increase productivity.

It was a little over 130 years ago the world’s first practical typewriter was produced and mass manufactured. That technological invention vastly improved productivity. It allowed writers to quickly produce essays and books. Previously, the writer used the slow tedious process of pen and paper, which the hampered the distribution of knowledge. The typical proficient typist can process 70 to 90 words per minute; a fast pen and paper writer can produce 30 to 40 words. So the typewriter effectively doubled the speed at which a book could be written.

That improvement in the speed at which books could be produced reduced the need for the professional scribe or a transcription-ist. The typewriter did not destroy the need for a secretary — in fact it increased the need for people proficient in typing — but it also radically changed the role of the secretary.

When the first computers came along they were used mainly for data processing and most offices still had a typewriter. There used to be in large corporations a department called the “secretarial pool.” This is where executives would get their assistants from.

With the advent of the personal computer, dictation changed and the need for secretaries decreased. As executive were able to produce their own writings quickly and easily, it was deemed more feasible and more cost effective to have them start writing their own letters.

In the 1950s writing a letter meant that an executive and a secretary who took shorthand would work together, thus employing two people. Today, the executive can type his own letter and the secretary merely processes the envelope and files a copy. That freed them to do other work.As the dream of voice recognition becomes today’s reality, the ability to produce more, faster and cheaper is going to reduce the need for office staff further.

As my abilities to produce more with less physical effort increase, it means I must rely more on my brain and my knowledge. That reliance upon intelligence is what is the future division between those who are able to provide for themselves and those who are relying on society. This historical trend is picking up speed.

We don’t have to look far to see how this new economy is developing. Simply look around Santa Monica and see how much light industrial there is. In the ’40s and ’50s, we had many small factories that employed hundreds. We had a war and the post war era to drive production. There was a lot of light industrial. Those buildings that used to house factories and employ hundreds, today are turned into creative offices and employ many fewer people. Factories, which used to require skilled technicians to do machining are now using robots that work consistently without complaint, with no need for health insurance,with no sick days, and with a minimum level of supervision.

A factory used to have a hierarchical structure of line worker to line manager to shop foreman to plant manager.Today,we have eliminated many of those management positions because the line worker is now a robot and one person can manage multiple robots that actually are monitored by remote computers.

That increase in reliance upon machines and technology means that as humans, those who will survive economically are the ones that have the language skills and the ability to learn. Education is going to become ever more important as we all have greater access to more knowledge. It is those people who are able to leverage knowledge who will be successful economically. This is why we need a wholesale reevaluation of our school system. The divisions between haves and have-nots are growing.

If as a society we don’t begin to produce a student body that has both the academic and technological skills necessary to survive, and a student population that has mechanical skills that are necessary to provide for themselves, we will end up with a large welfare society being supported by a small knowledge-based population.

It is in our best interests to provide skills not just for the best among our students, but also for the worst. By teaching the worst students how to provide for themselves, they can become contributing members of society, instead of being a drain on our economy.

We live in a capitalistic society and, therefore, it is in our own self interests to have as many people be self-sufficient as possible. Technology is providing wonders and we are still in the beginning stages of what is possible.

Technology increases productivity, which drives an economy. Technology needs intelligent workers, just fewer of them. (David Pisarra is a business development lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He can be reached at dpisarra@pisarra.com or (310) 664-9969.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 11, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071106.pdf?ref=smdp.com)