Ch-ch-ch-changes
January 25th, 2008
The Wisconsin Legislature endorsed online, virtual academies in a draft measure that would provide state funding and keep their keyboards open in the fall, overruling an earlier circuit court decision to shutter the institutions. Teachers unions are crying foul, but for everyone else this is a win-win. The academies win in being allowed to stay open, the students win in being afforded more choice in their educational path, the public wins in being assured of unified standards just as any other public educational institution, and society gets to keep fighting over whether or not online schools are really schools.
OK so that last part is just like anything else.
The last episode of Frontline on PBS dealt with the rise in social media and social networking on the Internet and its affects on the high school class of 2007. I want to preface this with something: it was the first time I have ever watched an after-school special about the Internet that didn’t make me want to pull my hair out through the whole thing. The alarmist tone was muted, and while other generations may not understand the coming-of-age generation’s use of the Internet and think that it replaces important social values, it was extremely useful and well done. You can watch the full episode from PBS’ website, but do know it is 60 minutes.
Change is good. Change means we are human. (Change for the sake of change is annoying, but…) It means we are alive. Our instinct is to explore and discover, and part of that means that we need to evolve. Whether one dislikes the ongoing development of technology or loves it, ultimately it is irrelevant. The world won’t stop because you long for an earlier time — like when students learned in rows of desks, looked at a chalkboard and chanted off multiplication tables with their instructor.
