“An end to silly, old-fashioned book learning”
The article I read, “Into the 21st Century: Technology, Teachers, and Nicky Future Ready,” was about schools in North Carolina implementing every kind of technology they can get their hands on into the classrooms. The author of this article, Terry Stoops states:
Yet catch phrases and buzzwords cannot hide the face that a “21st century education” is simply a more expensive and more bureaucratic of North Carolina’s current system of public schools…
The new and improved 21st century classroom would include a host of pricey electronic devices, gadgets, and toys, that, according to advocates, would put an end to silly, old-fashioned book learning.
When I first read this, I couldn’t understand why one classroom would need so much technology. Yeah it’s great and all, but is it really that necessary? I’m sure many classrooms could do without half the stuff that they have in them. Think back to when technology was just starting out. Students and teachers did not have much to work with, and some of the most intelligent scientists today grew up not knowing what a computer was.
North Carolina Newspapers in Education recently published a short introduction to 21st century education titled Making the Grade: Education for the 21st century. The tract explains:
In the ideal 21st century school, each school will have facilities and personnel that are necessary for a 21st century education. This includes individual classroom spaces — many with movable walls and flexible desk/table/cubicle configurations –and technology that is similar to what adults already use in the workplace. That means classrooms outfitted with an interactive digital whiteboard and data projector; a classroom set of individual student response devices; digital and video cameras; a telephone; one or more multimedia work stations that include printers, science probeware for experiments, digital microscopes and graphing scientific calculators for the upper grades.
Terry stoops believes that,
Advocates for “21st century schools” fail to explain how, for example, individual student response devices are preferable to students simply raising their hand, but that is not the point. The point is to convince parents that their child will be doomed to a life of destitution if he or she does not have access to individual response devices, science probeware, digital microscopes, and graphing scientific calculators–technology that most adults do not use (or need) in the workplace.
I agree with this 100%. As I mentioned before, many of the fancy gadgets classrooms have are not even needed, they are just their because the school could afford them and wanted to be up-to-date with the technology. The article even states that:
Elected officials and education leaders in our state have ignored the fact that educational technology has failed to improve student achievement in North Carolina in any significant way. Yet under the guise of the “21st century economy” they will continue to urge taxpayers to foot the bill for the latest ed-tech craze.
So is it really that necessary to spend so much money on high tech gear for students when it isn’t even improving their learning? Don’t get me wrong, I am all for technology in the classroom and learning new ways to use it and incorporate it. But I do not feel that schools should spend so much money on new tech. if teachers themselves don’t even learn how to use it, and if it doesn’t even improve the learning ability of the students.
Now you are problem wondering what the whole “Nicky Future Ready” thing is about in the title of the article, as well you should be. “Nicky Future Ready” is a cartoon character that was designed by North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Elementary Education Division. Here’s how the dept. describes Nicky.
Nicky Future was “born” this summer. He represents the elementary children we teach in our classrooms. Nicky is “labeled,” but not with negative labels and stereotypes. He is labeled with the attributes of a future ready student! Do the students in your school “wear” these labels, too? These are attributes every student will need to be globally competitive in the 21st century.
Nicky “wears” seventeen attributes: (1) self-directed responsible worker, (2) multi-lingual, (3) critical thinker, (4) effective communicator, (5) relationship builder, (6) health-focused life-long learner, (7) financially literate citizen, (8) creative/innovative thinker, (9) knowledgeable global citizen, (10) strong team contributor, (11) proficient reader, (12) science savvy, (13) literate consumer of media, (14) capable technology user, (15) effective problem solver, (16) curious researcher, and (17) skilled mathematician.
Wow these seem like high standards to set for an elementary student. Not sure how many elementary students will be multi-lingual, financially literate, science savvy skilled mathematician, or even a capable technology user. Yeah they will be able to accomplish some of these things to a degree, but they won’t be a pro.
Here is a link to show you what Nicky looks like. Nicky Future Ready
So overall, I feel that this article shows the advantages of technology but also the disadvantages of having too much. What Terry Stoops says about this issue pretty much sums up how I feel.
North Carolina’s children still need competent teachers and capable administrators, not classrooms full of technology or posters of cartoon characters, to be successful in school and beyond.
The Leland Tribune
Terry Stoops – Terry Stoops is an Education Policy Analyst for the John Locke Foundation
Jana