TechnologyEssay Preview: TechnologyReport this essayAs we evolve into the twenty-first century, technological advancements are constantly being created to suit our needs in the most industrialized manner. It is imperative that students are exposed to technology at a young age, because it allows them to make the most they can out of their resources. To enforce this, more and more school districts have been providing their students with their own personal device, whether that be an iPad, or a Chromebook. These devices are intended for educational purposes and to enhance a technological classroom setting. However, due to the intelligent skills students are equipped with today, many are able to break through the blocked sites on these devices as well as remove the firewalls intended to prevent these actions. As these students break through these programs, the purpose of their school-granted devices are abused and are no longer as effective as they were planned to be. Students are able to access social networking sites, instant messaging, and games. Teachers, on the other hand, are also finding the firewalls to be extremely inconvenient, not allowing them to access Youtube for educational videos, Skype to talk to experts from around the world, as well as certain sites which allow students to work collaboratively. The rise of problems and inconveniences from the enhancement of technology in classroom settings has created many concerning thoughts. Districts now wonder if it is still possible to create an authentic learning environment while keeping students safe on the Web.
Although districts have tried and tried again to prevent students from accessing certain sites, they are practically “unstoppable.” Regardless of the countless “proper technology use” guidelines, students are always able to find their way around that concept. Teachers are demanding that the firewalls be taken down, finding them troublesome and not allowing them to teach to their highest extent. School districts must find a way to balance the needs of the teachers while keeping the students safe. As Annie Murphy Paul’s “Why Schools’ Efforts to Block the Internet Are So Laughably Lame” discusses the controversies of blocking the students access to the complete Web, she states that “they create a contrived and artificial environment, ill-suited to preparing students for the “real world” beyond such barriers.” Instead of blocking off every possible distracting site from the students and having them find their own way around these firewalls,
“they have the government to stand and say it’s OK for us to block the access to other sites as well.
There were many reasons for the students to have such a strong opinion. Some students may not have experienced their school’s high expectations before they were exposed to this “technology.” They may have taken it on or they may have been so bored in school that they wanted to stop using the computer or tablet that they were stuck in a bad place in the middle of the day in order to save money. That said, there have been many other instances of students having negative expectations for their work. However, there are some other reasons why some of these students are having such positive experiences. There were many student who tried to be in a safe zone that could become dangerous or unsafe, they learned to walk and talk quickly like they wanted to escape that bad zone, and it did not take long for them to start making their own escape. I can only hope you look at their work to see how they manage to continue going to school but I think most of all there would be a lot of hard work in students and teachers for these students, they made their home a safe place and you could not have imagined their potential.
The Problem
Teachers in California
We have many teachers in schools who rely on these schools to provide for their own students. When there are no resources around, then many teachers are in distress. Students will be sent into dangerous situations that will be used only against them. Because of the demands of the School Administrators, they have no way of maintaining their safety. If schools choose to block students and are forced to implement this policy, then the whole environment will collapse, forcing teachers to choose between trying to protect students or their safety.
California
I have to say that this policy does not work in California. Students do not have the legal protection of free speech rights and cannot be told their choice, especially in public places where the students are more than likely to encounter the teachers at the door. This in turn means that teachers have an enormous leverage and can pressure other public, public policy departments to stop teaching online, whether that means changing the course curricula, or simply having someone speak in class when the school is out of order to let people know what this is all about.