Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?
In this day and age there is a belief that all we have to do for the students in our school systems is add some technology and have a new educational theory and they will be prepared.
This is NOT true.
The entire design of a school must be rethought/redesigned/reimplemented in order to make true progress for our students. While students do live in an age full of technology, we must introduce this technology in a planned way, one in which the learning process of the student is taken into account.
For example, while it is true that a great many students use Twitter, this would not be something that should be added into the educational system. With Twitter the posts of all who you follow has to be scrolled through in order to find the ones that you want to read. The others are not read at all because the student has already decided that the Tweet is not worth his time. A student will not scroll through their Tweets to find ones from class. They would rather find the ones from famous stars and sports stars. Setting up a seperate Twitter account just for school will not word either, because (1) many students will not log in to check it and (2) some students cannot check Tweets at all.
This second point is one that I should elaborate on. The use of technology in the classroom is a wonderful goal, but we have to keep in mind that in order to implement anything related to technology, ALL students must have access to it. The school systems that can afford to give students laptops are few in number. Even if this is given to them, we cannot assume that the student can access the internet from home. The family may not be able to afford to have internet access.
This is equivalent to telling a student to go home and do his homework, but he cannot because he doesn't have any paper to write on, or anything to write with.
(If you think that this doesn't happen, then why are all students given a school supply list that has a lot of extra stuff on it, like paper and pencils? Thse supplies are left at school so all students share them. Also look around at the start of the next school year, and notice the school supply drives for needy students.)
We not only have to provide a redesigned school system to the students, but we also have to make sure that ALL students can take advantage of it. This is what is best for the students.
Do you see it happenning? No. Because we are doing what is convenient for us.
Many people will say that they went to school and they turned out ok, so their schild can go to the same school and they will turn out the same. We need to correct this fallacy by not only educating the students but also educate the adults in what is needed in this new digital world, and that not only their childs' future depends on us improving the school systems, theirs does as well.
