Journal 6

"Social Justice, Choice or Necessity?" by Colleen Swain and David Edyburn


With 80% of jobs in the future needing competency in the ever competitive
job market, it's imperative that teachers get on board and make an
effort to teach their students in new, broad, and exciting and useful
ways. I can say fondly in my education here in college that technology
provides a massive and important part of my skills that I can bring to
any profession I decide to start. This includes simple word and excel
skills, to taking those programs to the next level, making newsletters,
graphs, you name it. Teachers are incredibly lucky (at least those that
don't wish to integrate) that it's only an option at this point, but
I'm almost certain that's likely to change as our society continually
becomes more and more based around technology. My generation, and those
following, are going to rely and use technology more and more, and it's
only realistic as it continues to save some time and effort, and in an
economy such as ours with such a fast pace and dependent on competency
and efficiency, technology is here to stay. I say this in the nicest
way possible, but teachers need to get on board with this new influx of
technology and join the revolution. Otherwise, it will soon be the
students teaching more than the teachers themselves!

Q1: Why would teachers not start teaching technology?
A:
For one, there are a lot of teachers that are generations behind and
don't want to change everything they know to adapt to it.
Unfortunately, those students already start at a disadvantage...

Q2: What if funding is the problem?
Funding with technology is obviously a huge part of finding a solution, and finding that solution is definitely
a difficult struggle. However, contacting those higher up the food
chain and making them realize how important a simple computer or visual
technology learning aid can be can make a difference in education,
teacher and student alike.