My friend Mike was shaking his head in disbelief. “That young woman who just waited on me,” he said, pointing to an employee of the fast food restaurant where we were eating, “had to call someone over to help her count change. The cash register ( 现金出纳机 ) showed her I needed 99 cents, but she couldn't figure out how to count out the coins.” I understood Mike's concern. What we have done in this country, although unintentionally, is to create several generations of individuals most of whom have no idea how to reason; how to do simple math; how to do research; or, finally, how to be creative ( 有创造力的 ). The reason for this is our overuse of information technology: video games, television, digital watches, calculators, and computers. Information technology feeds us information without requiring us to think about it and let us perform operations without understanding them. It is time we took a hard look at an educational system that only teaches our children how to push buttons. Our kids can't tell time if the clock has hands. They can use calculators, but cannot add, subtract, divide, or multiply. Video games have taken the place of active, imaginative play. Although most of them are technically literate, they choose not to read. They are so used to television and movies that they cannot use their imagination to stay interested in a book. It is not enough to recognize that a problem exists. What we need is a solution. The one I offer is simple to suggest, but may be impossible to carry out. We must unplug our children. If we don't, they will never learn how to solve problems. They will never learn even basic reasoning skills and will certainly not develop creativity. Instead of filling classrooms with electronics, let's concentrate on good old-fashioned literacy ― reading books. Students must be taught not to perform computer operations by rote ( 死记 ), but to figure and reason for themselves. They must see how things work and how processes lead to results, they must also stretch their imagination.