Technology is a large part of our future and the future of those currently in school. Being a student myself as well as a web developer, I use technology quite a lot. But there is one problem, the American school system restricts it.
The current school system for the United States, for the most part, impedes on our ability to get ready and ready for a technology ridden future. After attending New York City public schools for most of my teenage life, I can say I am very tired of it. Ironically, the NYC Department of Education has a Facebook page that you can “like”, but you can’t even view in the school building.
Censoring Facebook does make sense, but other websites? Not at all. Twitter is allowed, but not simple websites that have information for my homework? YouTube videos about school topics? The world won’t be censored when we graduate or when we move on to post-secondary education, so why try and protect us from what will only be a harsh reality in the future? Students needs to realize that they need to be mature enough to close that Facebook browser and to work on school work. In fact, it only causes the student to waste more time to get around the censorship in school via a proxy site.
Like it or not, the school system needs a wakeup call in a lot of different areas.
Currently, the only technical device you can use in class is a freestanding calculator. This completely removes the option of typing notes (which have proven to be very efficient and helpful!) Cellphones not allowed in school? I can say that I have used my cellphone in school to look up a question that a teacher had. Go ahead, suspend me.
Technology isn’t going anywhere; let the students use these amazing tools and help them graduate. You aren’t helping anyone.
