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Sarah Butrymowicz
At the Edison School in Yoder, Colo., administrators hope to provide a technological base for students to compete in college and the workplace.
YODER, Colo.—Surrounded by farmland and ranches, Colorado’s Edison School sits off an unpaved road, with tumbleweeds blowing across its dirt parking lot. As recently as a few years ago, many families relied on solar or wind power instead of electricity; today, many still haul home their water from wells. Principal Rachel Paul estimates that 25 to 30 percent of her students don’t have Internet access at home.
Yet at Edison — where about three-quarters of the 120 K-12 students are eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch — there are as many computers as there are students. On one recent day, Paul Frank’s fourth- and fifth-graders started off by learning about latitude and longitude on Google Maps and ended sprawled around the classroom on laptops, putting together presentations about the Midwest. While one student searched for photos of famous people born in Minnesota and Wisconsin, another used Google to find out Nebraska’s annual rainfall.
Frank and administrators in the two-school district, located an hour east of Colorado Springs in Yoder, Colo., have big technological ambitions. They want to infuse technology into every bit of the curriculum, from using iPods to help elementary students practice reading to mandating that high-school seniors take a computer-science course to graduate.
It’s not about improving test scores — last year, every single one of Edison’s elementary students was deemed proficient on the state’s math exam. Instead, the goal is to expand the students’ horizons and prepare them for college and the workplace, where technological literacy will be assumed.
“Kids don’t have access to that kind of stuff at home,” Frank said. “It’s the future. They need to know how to do this.”
Rural schools have long been leaders in distance-learning and online education — to offer a full slate of courses to their students, they’ve had to be. In fact, Edison has a fully online school that enrolls about 100 other students in the district. But when it comes to technology inside traditional classrooms, the small sizes — and budgets — of rural schools present unique hurdles.
More from the Hechinger report:
- The teacher you've never met: Inside the world of online learning
- Promise of the flipped classroom eludes poorer school districts
- Teaching software flooding into New Jersey classrooms
Some states, fearing a divide between rural and urban communities, have developed statewide initiatives to provide technology to rural schools. Maine, for instance, gives every student a laptop, and Alabama requires all school districts to offer Advanced Placement courses through distance-learning technology, where students video-conference with teachers.
But in many places, the onus is on the already-strained staff of the schools to acquire and then use things like computers and iPads, leading to pockets of innovation, like that in Edison. Although it leaves a line in its budget for technology upkeep, Edison has supplemented its tech experimentation with a $10,000 grant from the Denver-based Morgridge Family Foundation.
In districts facing shrinking budgets and consolidation, technology could be rural schools’ saving grace, said Bob Wise, a former governor of West Virginia who now serves as president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, a national advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., that has studied the challenges facing rural schools. “We’re encouraging every district to develop a systematic strategy for employing technology,” he said. “My guess is you will see a number of rural schools actually saved and renewed as learning centers.”
Rural America lags behind the rest of the country in Internet usage, making rural schools an important center of connectivity in the communities. In 2010, for instance, 57 percent of rural households had broadband Internet access, compared to 72 percent in urban areas, according to a November 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Expanding horizons
In Yoder, Frank tries an experiment with his students every few months. He gives them a homework assignment that must be submitted by email. When he started doing this a few years ago, he’d be lucky to get five responses. Most recently, all but three of his 21 students emailed him something. In part, he said, the improvement is a result of work the phone company has done in the area, making it easier for homes to get broadband Internet access.
Still, teachers can’t count on students being able to go online to complete assignments and have to be flexible about staying after school so students can work on the computers. “Getting the Internet into the homes is going to become our number one issue,” said Deirdre Binkley-Jones, Edison’s high school math and computer-science teacher. “We’re still dependent on traditional methods.”
While technology doesn’t necessarily lead to better student performance, it can expand students’ horizons beyond just preparing them for college or the workforce.
Related: One district's near-perfect record on state exams
“The Internet can give them library resources that they might otherwise not have,” said Aimee Howley, senior associate dean in the College of Education at Ohio University who studies technology integration in rural schools. Technology can also be used for simulations of things “you just can’t do on site. You can’t create a chemistry lab, dissect a whole bunch of animals.”
Edison has used distance-learning equipment to take elementary students on a field trip to NASA and to teach them about the Civil War. Frank’s classroom frequently practices writing and communication skills by “blogging” on class discussion boards about stories they’ve read. High-school students might use Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish or watch free videos from the Khan Academy to master math concepts. Before receiving their diplomas, all students learn the basic coding behind computer games.
Howley has found that rural teachers are open to using technology in their classrooms, but she cautioned that doing so in rural schools typically requires innovative faculty to take on extra responsibilities. Even then, schools often don’t have the money to buy computers or tablets and offer teachers corresponding training.
Teachers not only need to know how to use new gadgets, but also must be prepared to use the tools in ways that improve student learning, Howley said. Although Edison’s grant money has paid for some teacher training, it’s not enough to cover everything.
Frank, the self-proclaimed technology “guinea pig,” has learned by doing. When he first got an interactive Smartboard, for instance, he and his students learned together how do to things like upload textbooks and record attendance. Now, he’s got the other elementary teachers using Smartboards and even iPod Touches to monitor reading fluency, but the laptops rarely leave his classroom.
“I use [the Smartboard] for a year and figure out all the bugs,” Frank said. “It’s been really exciting to see the other elementary teachers buying in to using the technology.”
Tech comes with IT problems
But enthusiastic as he is about the potential of digital learning, Frank isn’t an IT expert — and it’s rare for rural schools to have one. “You get this much technology and you need a lot of tech support, and we don’t have it,” said Paul, the principal. “Then we’re just frustrated.”
Edison joins with other schools in the area to share an IT person, who comes once a week and mainly tends to the school’s servers. Without extra help, though, Edison may have reached its limits. “At this point, getting more technology would be a disaster,” Binkley-Jones said.
Although many staff members say students are enthusiastic and take to technology easily, Binkley-Jones finds herself teaching basic computer skills — how to open or save Word documents, for example — to high-school students.
As the school moves forward with its five-year technology plan, which will include expanding distance-learning and more training for teachers, the elementary staff will need to address that.
“Even five years ago, we would have been happy with kids graduating knowing how to write a Word doc,” she said. “The focus in technology is moving away from [just] being able to use a computer.”
This story, “Bridging the digital divide in America’s rural schools,” was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University.
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Sounds like even South Park has better connectivity.
Didn't Obama have a pla... oh yeah. That's right. The Pubs filibustered.
Somewhere in my head are the words, "land of equal opportunity... something... something".
Oh well... Whatever. It was a good thought... We gave it a good try.
.
Sowww....
I guess I need to study up a little more on oligarchies.
who gives a crap about america's children, they arent mine.
i imagine thats what most republicans think, even if they are unwilling to say it aloud.
GOD knows whats in their hearts...and their party platform. destroy/defund public education.
a blind/deaf person could see and hear it loud and clear.
PMS-NBC has lied and distorted so many reports - I doubt this is the full story... If MS-NBC would setup an innocent person (Zimmerman) and then purposely and falsely report a Romney event (for their own purposes) how can we trust any of this???
I think PMS-NBC is fabricating news....
Oops....I missed. that +1 was an accident. (what can I say, I'm a gimp, and it wasn't my choice)
.
But to the point of the post...
Ummm... let me pick thru your paranoid schizophrenia...
Zim is innocent, and...
Sorry, you completely lost me on the falsely reported Romney event/PMS ...??? What???
Please explain?
I learned in a rectangular building, not some architect's dream. I didn't have a dirt road and tumble weed but I got a good education and retired after 35 years of practicing law. Spend the taxpayer's money on education, not the ridiculous amenities. I'm in Pittsburgh, Pa and we have schools here that resemble European cathedrals -- spend money on education. I like the Colorado idea.
I almost felt like I was reading an article from about 15-20 years ago. Makes you want to go there and help somehow.
George Zimmerman graduated high school and is very computer savy, having used it successfully to make a few hundred thousand dollars.
@Times up,
Zimm is an idiot and apperently you are too!. No Worries Sane, I bumped ya up one!
Thanks for the bump (don't really care), but...
I'm still trying to understand wth he is talking about.
Maybe it's time to sample the latest go round of... "news".
My biggest concern is...
ATTENTION HOMELAND SECURITY!!!
Please trace the poster w/handle, Time's Up
'somethin rong wit dis dud"
He aint right.
Hopefully, we won't hear about him tomorrow.
Being a teacher I'll reveal a well kept secret. Today's students are NOT any more technologically proficient they are only using different tools for different purposes. Few if any actually know how to use their technological tools. They have become a generation of "Look me ups" who can't write, read poorly, and can only use computers and/or ipads, smart phones to look up individual factoids. Agreed, there are exceptions but as I once asked a principal,"tell any student to link a word document to an excel document so that it automatically updates itself". virtually none of them can because they learn to write a letter (spell check) on Word, maybe do a spreadsheet on excel, and provide a presentation on Power Point, find facebook, play bejeweled, and tweet. I told my seniors they couldn't use Power Point in a presentation and that they had to design and use their own visual aids and they were at a loss how to develop an aid that would augment and expand their presentation. My favorite example is that I was a Jet Mechanic and understood fuel controls. My father could tune the magneto on his model "T". Neither of was more advanced than the other we simply had different tools and objectives. Far too many of our students "look it up" instead of studying the material to gain the resident knowledge which will benefit them over time.
I think I prefer the idea of looking up what you need to know at the moment, versus memorizing a ton of material, the majority of which you'll never need to recall ever again. Also, linking Office documents? Really? Why would a high school student need to know how to do that?
I do think it is highly important to be proficient at reading and writing. However, our society is increasingly geared towards careers that are science/math based. Who needs above average skills in reading/writing for that? So long as a doctor can sign off on orders and prescriptions, what's the point of knowing anything but science and math? Lawyers need to be highly skilled at writing/reading, but we now know it's all going down the toilet in that field.
Linking office documents is very common in an office place. I used to do it when organizing/taking minutes for executive meetings. But it still won't earn you a lot of money. And it is so wrong for a teacher to discourage using office software for school work! I don't know a single job except for mcdonalds that doesn't require some level of proficiency in those programs!
Bumpity-- You're right they need the skills and we should be teaching them-BUT-try telling Juniors and Seniors in High School that all of their assignments have to be computer generated and watch the screaming. Even though the schools have computers available and libraries have computer centers, every teacher and parent will begin with,"Some of our babies don't have access-give us money". Amazingly, these "kiddos" will find a way when they get to college. Shouldn't we be preparing them to use the technology in a manner that results in actually expressing their original thoughts instead of "cut and paste".
L.A.W. said, "Being a teacher ......... My favorite example is that I was a Jet Mechanic and understood fuel controls. My father could tune the magneto on his model "T". Neither of was more advanced than the other we simply had different tools and objectives."
Right here is one of the BIGGEST problems in our education system, has been for 2 or 3 decades now .... the TEACHERS. This one thinks that an engine with 15,000 parts & microscopic tolerances requires the same mechanical skill as one with 100 parts which can fully operate at a variety of settings, whether factory spec. or not. Also not sinking in is the fact that the Jet Mech could very easily ALSO know how to tune that magneto, perhaps even improvise with some type of more modern technology which makes the Model T run BETTER than factory specs. If you think that CAN'T be done, then you're about as good of a mechanic as you are a teacher.
On the flip-side, good ole dad over there is pretty decent on the T, but is almost a guarenteed bet that he would be clueless about even identifying where the fuel system of an A380 resides, much less how to adjust the thing. Most likely pops can't even figure out which tool to use, since it's probably NOT in the toolbag for a Model T.
Yet a TEACHER thinks these 2 guys are 1 & the same on level of technological understanding. Guess that guy what knows how to change the batteries in the wireless thermometer is on the same level as that guy what repairs Doppler weather radar.
More amazing is the fact that by the 4th sentence, teacher-LAW has already admitted that our education system is non-functional, sorta like our government. Kids have no idea how to use tools at their disposal, because they have no teachers interested in teaching them how ..... well, at least not at a pitiful national average of over $48,000 for a 10-year teacher. But give us another $1,500 per year, a guarenteed yearly increase of 7.5%, & an additional 5 days of paid vacation per year and we could do our jobs MUCH better.
My county once had 8 schools not too many years ago. With the sole exception of ONE, the main buildings were relatively modern, well maintained, spacious, & comfortable. 2 of those 7 "good" buildings were less than 10 years old with ultra-modern equipment. At least 3 of those schools, sometimes 4 & 5, graduated students with so high of SAT & other scores that the state BOE thought a few times that the results were being cooked somehow, or the students were just being allowed to cheat. They weren't.
Jump ahead 10-15 years to 2005. A new "progressive" school board decides the answer to already well-educated kids was to close EVERY school, with the sole exception of 1. That one had already been consolidated with 1 other of the 8, with very disappointing results. So obviously that's the correct thing to do. A HUGE $5-mil building was built, able to accomodate twice as many kids as this county had EVER had. They were also sure to make a Teachers Lounge, much resembling a combination Starbucks/T.G.I.Fridays, only twice as big. This was to give the teachers a much needed rest from those grueling 7-9 hour days in an AC'd classroom. Since the new monstrosity wasn't centrally located, many students now have almost a 2-hour bus ride. Since MOST of the teachers who had helped contribute to those almost unbelievably high scores were local to each original school, many approaching 20, 25, 30 years of teaching, THEIR day & drive-time just received a 1-2 hour increase also. Large numbers of them, saddly any of the most respected ones, decided this was a good time to retire. But that's okay. There's LOTS of wannabe teachers graduating college each year.
Two funny things happened within 5 years. #1 was that the new school system wanted voters to approve a huge mil raise to finance an additional $1.5 mil for an on-site complex consisting of a contracted Day-Care, Pre-School, & Kindergarten. With the exception of the Day-Care, there were already 5 of each, at the old original locations, every one of them doing great. For the first time EVER, we said NO at the polls. The natural thing to do was then to assume we parents were stupid, re-word the request, & try to slip it back through 6 months later. Again we said NO. It was almost entertaining how all those new teachers went ballistic, junk about how parents didn't care for their kids education, won't give us the means to teach their kids, etc., etc., etc.
#2 was when parents started noticing the high scores present over the last 2-3 decades had become non-existent. My own neighbour's daughter, NOT a dumb kid, pulled off an amazing ACT composite of TWELVE in her Junior year. That type score doesn't give much choice of college. Failing to figure out the problem at home, he requested to sit through a class with daughter. Permission was given & so he did. The results were curious. During the entire class, 2 boys never woke up, teacher never tried to wake them. The common "Open your books to page .... " was never heard, the teacher instead continually marked up the blackboard. When the bell rang, no homework was given, the 2 boys woke up, kids left, & teacher asked parent (notice quotes) "How'd I do?" Huummm. Parent was so ticked that THIS was happening to his kid while he was at work, that he confronted teacher about it. Her reply was even more classic than the above, "Well, parents don't teach their kids any longer". Huummm.
Through more parent involvement, this was soon revealed NOT to be an isolated case by any means. Within 1 month, "12 Girl" was attending ANOTHER school. By graduation she had raised that 12 to a 23. At least it's a bit better.
This school has lost at least 20% of it's students to other schools over the last couple years, for the same reason as this girl. In that time period, the schools scores have NOT improved. They are still begging us voters for that other $1.5 mil & blaming us for our kids being stupid. Saddly, many parents saw that the OTHER schools often had about the same attitude & results. That's why home-schooling in this entire multi-state REGION has quite literally increased 3X-5X during the last decade. That's a difficult option for us, since we have 5 children. Both of us HAVE to work to support that size of family, even both of us with good degreed jobs. Luckily that very situation has forced our children into developing a great deal of initiative, self-starting, & helping each other when mom & dad are either at work or really tired late in the week. So we haven't seen that no-fault "stupid-problem" in any of them.
L.A.W. said, "..... try telling Juniors and Seniors in High School that all of their assignments have to be computer generated and watch the screaming ....... every teacher and parent will begin with,"Some of our babies don't have access-give us money"."
So in other words, the proper way to handle a rebellion is to let the inmates run the asylum. And the reason they are crazy in the first place is the fault of other people, not themselves.
L.A.W.,
I loved reading your response. It reaffirms the reasons I chose to use a cyber school. Maybe, you should go back and brush up on your grammar. Some children have the skills that you believe they lack. My children navigate the internet, coursework and Microsoft office daily. They also have more practical skills, such as simple construction and yardwork. My daughter accompanies her grandmother to real estate open houses. She also helps to "navigate" when we drive to her competitions. She knows the meanings of road signs and basic operation of the car. I make her tell me what lane to use, exits to use, and the next step in the directions. She is only nine years old. Children learn through the opportunities they are exposed to, "looking it up" and curiousity. If your high school students are lacking in necessary skills, it is your responsibility to teach and not to complain. If you fail to teach these skills, you become part of the problem.
I've been talking with seniors and recent graduates of the local school my kids would have attended. They stated that studying is not necessary. All they have to do is be able to find the answer on a notecard. That is the same stupidity the did when I was in school fifteen years ago. The students worry more about getting in trouble for being picked on and subsuquent trips to the magistrate. My niece was so scared she changed her name, so the other kids would stop picking on her. The year my son attending the school (3rd grade special ed class), the teacher was giggling that my son had a girlfriend. He would not have understood the concept of a girlfriend. The girl was verbally passing herself around like the dessert of the minute. It was disgusting and the teacher found it adorable. If I has known earlier, I would never have allowed my son to be exposed to such stupidity.
As far as computer, the local school only has a few dinosaurs in a computer lab. They are the same computers bought two decades ago. My kids were using the same computers I used as a child. The kids don't have access to the internet at school because learning is not a priority. Sports, sports facilities, saunas, excessive pays for teachers and unnecessary buildings are the priority. Who really cares if the students learn? Let's have teachers who think they are butterflies, stinky farmers, in a war zone, or Elvis and pay them $40,000+. Or other staff, like a transportation director, who make over $100,000. Most of the individuals aren't even worth minimum wage.
This is exactly the kind of spending that the teabaggers were sent to DC to stop..imagine the thought of taking money from hardworking urban dwellers and redistributing it to rural inhabitants who didn't earn the money...too bad the tea party wasn't around when the rural electrification programs was started or a lot of you red staters would be pumping your water by hand...and using tin cans with string to call yer neighbor...
Yeah Yeah, Republicans and Teabaggers want to starve children intellectually and literally, they want to put grandma in the poor house and want to utterly destroy the enviroment for the future. They wont be happy until they kill everything and everyone isnt that right? Do you Libs ever get tired of the same old rhetoric? Conservatives and teabaggers are about cutting all the waste and inefficiencies of many of your bloated programs. Find some new matterial.
Partisan blaming doesn't do anything to solve the communications infrastructure gaps in rural areas of the country. Like other infrastructure issues, water, sewage, power, cell towers and updated high-speed data lines require long term planning and budgeting that goes beyond election cycles.
If we don't get past the divisive, self-centered bickering - we won't keep basic services, let alone rebuild and innovate infrastructure for the future.
As the IT director for a non-urban school district of 6,000 students, I ache for students. Teachers, more often than not, don't get it; administrators, on the whole, don't get it. Constituents (parents, homeowners, taxpayers) generally don't get it. What don't they get? That it's about integrating education into the paradigm of new learning not integrating technology into proven teaching models. (? - see test scores & business HR interview stories). Majorities of these groups hide behind professional development (PD) funding, tiered salary incentives and gadgetocracies to prove that technology lacks the conviction of learning. It's the opposite, really. Until the bureaucracies of people in the education system give up the inherent, sinister belief that time equals power (e.g. seniority & entitlement), bridging a digital divide is crossing a bridge to nowhere. Or is that knowhere? Talented people leave institutionalized learning often because creative learning is thwarted by the time-honored principles of education that honor time more than education. Let the kids teach the teachers what technology is, not what it does and perhaps we have a chance.
Will:
I agree with you, I retired this year because technology was being forced into the system without any consideration for how to use it, where to use it, when to use it, and what the objectives were for its use. Sadly, when a child picks up a laptop and finds a fact everyone assumes they are involved in the learning process. I've worked with computers since they were two floppy discs, one for the system and one for the program and used DOS. I have long said it is a useful "tool" but it has to be used with a defined purpose that encourages students to expand their knowledge, not just gather facts.
@will freeman, not quite sure what you ment here, but will tell this story. A young mechanic put a computer on a diesel truck and it showed the 1 of the injectors wasn't working. he than tore the engine apart to discover that the injuctor wire was broke. The tearing apart was unneccessary. It sure seams that every one is trusting the computer to be 100% correct. I feel that it should be used as a tool and than some look it over good trouble shooting proceedures done first. The computer said the injector failed, but had the young mechanic took a few minutes to look in the area the computer said the truck could have been fixed and on it's way in about 1 hr. Instead it was Out of Service for over a day. Yes I feel computers are great but a little hands on in conjunction with it is better.
You folks are right on the money. I live in an urban setting but see exactly the same thing in my son. He can look anything up but his own self-possesed knowledge is pathetic. When I pursue this issue with "teachers", and for the most part that word can only be loosely applied, they say he's never going to know a world without the internet and connectivity world-wide is only improving, so there no need to memorize all those facts.
Technology is a useful and essential tool. But it is a tool in the same way that pens, pencils and libraries are tools. Kids need to know how to operate them all. I am waiting for the school administrators that say that learning is global. You have to be able to apply logic, follow the money, assess the sources and look at the context. History, geography, science, politics, religion and finance are interrelated not isolated topics. Math is needed for everything. Rural schools need to start teaching subjects that give kids skills to remain in their communities as productive community members. Not everyone should go to university/college but everyone should be able to finish high school and find work. Farms are big businesses - teach the skills you need to operate them. Farm communities need a variety of skills to remain productive. Reinstate apprenticeship programs. Communities need to start mentoring their kids. Communities need mechanics, small business owners, veterinarians, teachers, community leaders, auctioneers, butchers, doctors, etc... Some of those need post secondary and some do not, but stop telling our kids that the only life worth living is in the big city and that they are a failure if they don't dream of going there. Use the technology as a tool for teaching and please don't forget to teach them how to actually write on paper.
I would disagree with your thoughts. My kids are in a cyber school and look many things up online. They don't memorize facts they learn and apply it. For example, my daughter started baton twirling when she was seven. She became curious and search out as much information as she could find. She started learning new tricks and more about competitive twirling. She looked up the awards that the competitive team associated with her group received. Once she learned more about it, she learned that she didn't need to wait for this instructor to choose her. Even if the instructor chose her, she was not impressed by their accomplishments. She found another instructor and started competing. Now, she says that she didn't start twirling until she started with her current instructor. She has watched and learned about many accomplished twirlers and has set goals for herself. She uses this process with her schoolwork. The internet can be powerful if the student has ambition and really wants to learn. By the way, she is a straight A student. She is still doing schoolwork today. She plans to only take a break for twirl camp and Internationals. Personally, I think that it is still work. The more "fun" she has, the skinnier she gets and the better she can read. It is all up to the kid and the opportunities their are given.
Alisha - your children are prime examples of how computers in education should be used. Their early abilities to navigate the internet, access information, and their abilities to assess context and apply logic to the information they are finding is exactly what I suspect most parents would like their children to be able to do. You deserve full credit for teaching them and for finding a school program that meets their needs. Kudos.
I think it is a great idea, as long as it is used in conjunction with other methods. Education should never be about using or doing just one thing, technology or otherwise.
That's electricity, too. It's just made locally.
A lot of time these kids in Maine are bringing the laptops home and just using them to chat all night. Maine is a rural state mostly, and a lot of lower income families live in Maine, but not everywhere. If you live south of portland and up into the Bath area, chance are you are at least middle class and have a computer and internet at home. I think its great they are trying to instill tech skills and literacy in kids since its so crucial to life as an adult, but not every kid needs the laptop from the school. We don't give Free/Reduced lunch to every kid...you should have to qualify for it. laptops ain't cheap.
I don't believe a word from MSNBC. Not one. They are simply an arm of the Democrat party.
George Zimmerman graduated high school and is very computer savy, having used it successfully to make a few hundred thousand dollars.
KUDOS L.A.W. for speaking plainly. I still have kids in school and others out of grad school and 1 in the military. Technology is a tool.. but like all tools fallable. Its great after you take time to make kids proficient in old fashioned manual education.MANY of today's teachers have no idea what that is or have an inclination to put together a plan to teach it if they do. Reading, Writing, Math. Universal constants of manually driven intellect.
At a time when our cyber-world is being probed and penetrated DAILY, you have to think of the appropriate back up. Call me a throw-back but the kids and 35 and under generation who live and die by technology will pay a price WHEN their precious cyber blanky fails... Not if,,, but when. This will impact everything we do. banking, health care, civil support, etc... more than 60% of the US job market goes to pasture when there is a catestrophic technology/cyberspace failure.
My military son when home tells me of soldiers who cannot manually reference anything. Furthermore some can't do simple math, algebra or in certain jobs,, calculus and trig problems. More still can't use a map and compass vs. having to rely on GPS for land navigation. I asked him what happens when the batteries die? or the fire control computer crashes, or,, or ,or..... He just looks at me and shrugs his shoulders.
As an old-school educated person, a soldier and leader myself, and a combat veteran I find this galling.
In all walks of life you have to be respectful of Murphy's Law. Ole Murph is an SOB and lies in wait for the complacent.. But in the end he has his way when people cling to one solution too much as the only solution.
Time for some old-school balance.
Opresso Liber = Enslave the free.
Just sayin' Latin.
The irony of a school (named after the father of modern electricity) where a third of the students don't even have access to the internet... ;-D
Of course, I grew up without access to the internet as well and I turned out reasonably OK. We had this weird, old place full of books, papers and records and stuff called a 'library'....
Actually I think you need to learn how to do it without a computer or calculator first, right? If you don't, what are you going to do if you don't have electricity or your battery runs out?
The truth is that older generations are having a hard timing dealing with changing times. The schools are being forced to deal with the situation and failing. Computers are here to stay. Live with it or get out of the way. Yeah, I guess L.A.W. already gave up.
I know computers are here to stay, but just wait until the power goes out (via a nice big solar storm or an EMP)....
There's a price to pay for being too dependent upon automation.
We can embrace technology but still be afraid for the younger generation not knowing how to do anything. Kids aren't getting educated in how to do anything, how to make anything, or how to grow anything. They are only shown how to look it up. I think that's scary. A few basic skills would be nice, perhaps a bit of basic math. I think if the power did go off, the young people would be the first to go, and the ones to survive would be flocking to the older people who have skills and learned a few things in school. Half the younger generation that I know can barely read; they either are barely literate, or they have to read aloud as they read, or they have some learning disability. You look at it as the fact that we're resistant, but we're actually afraid for you.
In 2007, two colleagues and I architected and deployed a 2,500-seat Linux-based thin-client system in seven Atlanta elementary and middle schools for about $600 per seat. There were no viruses, no spy/ad/bloatware, and the systems continued running for months after the project ended, without our further involvement. The school system passed us over when it came to setting up the rest of the schools, but the big-name consultants they brought in couldn't replicate what we did. The expertise to do this exists but it has to be found and set loose; mostly, it takes dedication.
Computer technology and internet access is very important, but it is not the basis of education. I believe the students need to understand the basics of math and the concepts of good reading and writing before they get into computers. Or in another way, computer training needs to be a companion program to the basics, not to the exclusion of these other arts or memorization. If you only know how to push buttons on a calculator, how do you know if you even enjoy math? If you don't know how language works, how do you know how beautiful writing is? CU L8R isn't writing; it's communication. Teachers should know the difference. I'll agree that world history might be boring to some people, but imagine a world where nobody knows who Napoleon was or Socrates or Plato? You can teach a robot to push buttons, but I thought the point of an education was to take young minds and shape them into adults that can lead the world. I'll admit that there is creativity in technology, but what about the arts, history, science, math, music, etc.? If a teacher teaches basic math and then as the years go by, the student learns that the basic principles of math apply to the entire universe, those concepts make things make sense, even computers. Linux means nothing if you don't have a well-rounded education. It doesn't make you educated. Memorization trains your brain. It's not that you need to remember the dates in history that they make you learn, it's the training in memorizing and learning that helps you to educate yourself.
I remember the very first time I had proper access to the Internet was when my family registered through a Unifi promotion. It's hard to even live without the computer and the Internet now when all companies are using it so extensively.