Warning: This blog may offend you. If you are easily offended please don't read any further.
In a day and age where technology continues to advance, there will always be new amazing improvements in what we can do and how fast we can do it. I'm not sure if we will ever reach the end of advancements. I can't even imagine when I have grandchildren what they are going to have to teach me. School 2.0 seems to be one of the newest advancements. On a personal note, I have to say, at some point we have to stop looking only at how far we can advance and how far we can see into the future but we also have to start looking behind us. In this day and age with the economy in its current state, we have to be careful that we are not leaving behind a huge portion of our society making the education gap even wider. Those children whose parents cannot afford computers and internet access will not be included in the ever onward march of technology.
Before I begin to explain what school 2.0 means to me, I think a simple definition is in order. If only it was that easy. It seems the definition is a bit ambiguous as no one has really pinned down what it will truly mean. The best way I can find to describe school 2.0 is trying to bring schooling into the 21st century. It is an attempt to integrate learning and technology into everyday classrooms. I think school 2.0 will have a twofold meaning to me and many other teachers in the future. I believe there will be numerous benefits. Being able to effectively continue teaching children at home will be a major plus. Offering class notes or lectures, homework help maybe even step by step instructions on how to create a project will be definite bonuses to school 2.0. Being able to collaborate with teachers around the world, finding high performing schools and talking to those teachers who are succeeding at helping children learn more will be very beneficial. With all the good also has to come some bad. Unfortunately, as I stated before, there is a large portion of our society, who simply don't have the luxuries of the internet or even a computer. There are many families who are glad they have enough to eat every day. The table below shows the breakdown of what I see as an unfortunate cycle. Granted the table was created in 2000, but really has our economy improved since then? There is an obvious connection when you look at the chart between those who don't graduate from high school, have jobs that don't pay well and the lack of internet access. I see the possibility of school 2.0 making the gap between the have's and the have not's wider. It is a scary prospect to me. I live in a county where poverty is all around me. Children in my area (and I am sure other areas) have trouble with reading, writing and math and even though they can't meet standards on their grade level they are passed on through and become the next teachers issue. Adding the fact that they have no internet or technology for that matter and they are doomed to be lost in the shuffle of school 2.0. As a future teacher this is even scarier. I hope to be the teacher who wants very much for every child I come in contact with to gain all he or she can from me. I want to be able to change the way they look at their world and make them see that anything is possible.
Well, I think I am done ranting now. I have very strong views about this subject and I will not apologize for that. If no one speaks out how will things ever get better? I hope I haven't offended too many people with this one.
Lenart, A. (2000). Who's Not Online. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2000/Whos-Not- Online/Report/Part-1.aspx
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