So many of my schools are in a rural setting. They do not get cable television let alone fiber to their buildings. The state tried to establish a way to give them what the big (money-rich) schools could get. Somebody, somewhere believes that each child should get an equal education and opportunity.
We all know that is hogwash. If a child goes to a big school in the city, they are amazed at how little the rural school has to offer. And now it is more of an issue than ever. Funding cuts.
When it comes down to fixing the roof of the building or repairing the buses that transport the children, there is no money left over for renovating the building to accommodate fiber optics. Buildings built in 1908 do not have the electrical structure we need today to run all the electronics.
The students sit and wait while the teacher struggles to get their technology working. What worked fine for her class yesterday the teacher cannot get to work today. Without the projector or the video unit the class cannot get the benefit of the lesson plan.
Epic fail.
And before you go and say "Go back to the way we did it with books and paper and pencils" - please remember it is the school staff's duty to prepare our children to survive in "today's" world. They will be faced with scads of electronic devices and social networking and shared devices. They will not be reading a book or writing on a piece of paper with a pencil (unless they want to). They are going to need to know how to get a task done and at lightning speed.
The above photo is fused silica the inner core of fiber optics. Glass is technology's best friend. Advil is mine.
2 comments:
It really grates on me when people say the way they were educated is good enough for today's kids; it isn't, not by a long shot. They need to learn modern technology to compete with the world.
I agree with Grumpy. Whether some like it or not, technology is here to stay and they will get left behind if they don't have it available to them.
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