Progress or Big Brother?

Progress or Big Brother The quality which I liked best about www.leadertalk.org is the progressive, pro-tech tone that resonates throughout the blog site. Most of the bloggers seem to advocate moving forward with wise use of technology as opposed to remaining in a stalemate as many schools have done since the technology revolution.What I liked least about the blog site is the almost bandwagon tone in some blogs. Although this comment may seem to contradict my first paragraph, read on. I consider myself pro-tech, but I know, duh, that technology will not solve all of the problems in our schools. Technology is a blessed event, but unwise use of technology could create a very intimidating “Big Brother.” Keep education human and use technology, not the other way around.

First, I found Black Belt Musings to a Bag of Ice, submitted by Kevin Riley, refreshing because of the unique metaphor he used. Comparing educational levels to the levels in Tae Kwon Do, he comments:

"The grade level system that we inherited from the Industrial Revolution has been in place for nearly 150 years.. . .In Tae Kwon Do if you promote a student who has not mastered the competencies of the curriculum, they will be thrown in with advanced students with whom they cannot compete. One day they will catch a flying heel kick on the side of the head and it will remind them that earning a black belt is not a race.”

Although I cannot see the benefits of a fourteen-year-old being in the same math class as a ten-year-old (obviously, I have been conditioned to social promotion), I thought Tae Kwon Do was a colorful metaphor. I’m sure Kevin has thought of a virtual classroom for overage students as an alternative to a humiliating “placement” in a traditional math class with younger students.

Second, I liked Credit where credit is due . . . BLAME where blame sits, by Andrew Norris, mainly because I childishly liked the YouTube video at the end. Although I agree with some points made in the blog while I disagree with others, it kept my attention and led me to wonder if the insistence of some people to stay on their laptops during a presentation by a colleague is less due to the presenter and more due to the change in what we perceive as meaningful in this techno age. Has the use of technology made it easier to relate to a computer screen than to a live person? Kind of Orwellian, I know, but at least it made me think.

Third, What is our “moon shot”? An educational reform catechism, by Matt Militelo, was also an intriguing blog. Again, I’m a sucker for a colorful metaphor in a title. Comparing the next leap forward in education to our “moon shot,” was a clever use of words and ideas. The blogger uses the metaphor both positively and negatively. First, he says that our current and unattainable “moonshot” is NCLB. He later uses it to chide by commenting that “To achieve our educational “Moon Shot” we need to first know where we are going.” I couldn’t agree more.