Advancing Our Educational System
I was in the States this week and everywhere I looked I saw the way technology has been woven into the basic activities of daily life.
There’s virtually nothing you can’t do online. You travel on an e-ticket, reserve the rental car ahead of time to avoid the lines, all on your pc or, more likely, a cell phone that accesses the internet. You find your destination using the GPS in the car and check into the hotel on a kiosk in the lobby.
But the thing that struck me the most was watching the kids who have grown up in this internet age and can’t imagine things any other way. Instant and text messaging have almost replaced conversation. Social networking through sites like Facebook and MySpace have created cyber communities that connect our children to information and knowledge we couldn’t have conceived of just a few years ago.
Their world is being shaped by exposure to people, places and things far beyond their communities and their futures hold limitless potential.
More critically, technology had changed the way they learn in the educational system. Laptops have replaced books in their backpacks and assignments are often given and completed on line. Trips to the library have been replaced by combing the Web and those who aren’t conversant with the resources and linkages available will be left behind.
This isn’t something that starts in high school – pre-schoolers are exposed to computer based learning programs and by the time they enter the primary grades, the keyboard is as familiar to them as the blackboard was to us. The skills they learn will be essential if they are going to compete through the educational system and beyond.
How are we preparing our children here in the Virgin Islands for this world?
Many of our children attend classes every day in crumbling buildings that don’t provide a comfortable and safe environment for learning. They are taught by teachers who make the ultimate sacrifice to provide the necessary resources to carry out lesson plan. Textbooks are out of date and there may not be enough for each child to even have one. And often, if there is no computer in the home, there is no exposure to the tool that will be most influential in their future success.
When these conditions exist, the best-intentioned personnel cannot provide an atmosphere that engages our children in learning. Without the knowledge and facilities necessary to challenge young minds, teachers are further hampered in their effort to place our children on a path that will lead to future success instead of a road that ends in becoming part of the alarming drop-out rate we see in our communities every day.
It is past time for us to refocus on the basics. No amount of rhetoric on future growth and development in the Territories is valid unless we recommit immediately to that foundation our children need to contribute to and sustain the internal strength we need for our survival.
Improvements in this area will have a positive impact on so many of the social ills we face. Children who are engaged in learning see a future and know their place in it. Children who are engaged in learning are less likely to become part of our problems and more likely, and better equipped, to become part of our solutions.
All of our children should have an opportunity to participate in this future and public education is where that opportunity starts. Let’s refocus on going forward to the basics.
Our future, and theirs, depend on it.
Mr. Springer, you are correct on how modern day technology is upon us, and our elected officials have failed to date to capitalize on it by not incorporating in our education system.
We definitely need to have new up and coming leaders like you that have foresight for action, our leaders must be proactive rather than reactive.
This is N, Felix and I approve this message.
Good article Mr. Springer.
Why am I referred to in this response? Michael…don’t play with me. I never responded to your article and I think it disingenuous to inform the public that I did so. I like you, Michael, and I think that with a little humility, which you now appear to have in short supply, you just might become a good public servant. However, you need to play by the rules…all of the rules.
The community is invited to support META I.
Model Education Training and Assessment Initiatives (META I.) is an entity committed to educational practices, policies, and issues which impact individuals, organizations, and the community, primarily within the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Caribbean and is focused on facilitating excellence through the use of quality research, targeted instruction, and robust technologies.