Character in a Digital World: Successful?
Thomas White
Contributor
As students took advantage of the coveted half-day on
Friday, November 21, seven Canandaigua Academy students, including
myself, stayed behind to reverse roles and teach the teachers about
something near and dear to our hearts: our toys.
You may or may not remember, but last year, all Academy students took
a survey on the computer regarding technology. We answered questions
ranging from internet
use to cell phone use to illegal downloading.
What you probably do not know is that this data, along with data from schools
all over Ontario and Monroe counties, was taken to RIT and Dr. Samuel McQuade
along with Neel Sampat, a graduate assistant, analyzed the mass of information.
After months of evaluation, Dr. McQuade began to present his findings to area
schools. That Friday was Canandaigua’s turn.
The second half of the day consisted of all the teachers, administrators, and
even the Board of Education, filing into the auditorium, just like students,
where, just like students, they listened to Dr. McQuade himself explain the study’s
findings. The seven panel students listened as well. The majority of the findings
can be summed up with one statement: we as high school students understand technology
and are called “Digital Natives” and our teachers, parents and adults
do not, which makes them “Digital Immigrants”. They also discussed
the amounts of gadgets we own, our online slang language, and on a more serious
note, the epidemic of online predation.
While Dr. McQuade wapped up his PowerPoint presentation, Katie Kibler, Brooke
Young, Eric Schott, Alexis Werner, Chelsea Weibel, George VanBrooker, and
I took the stage. District Community Relations Coordinator Andrew Thomas moderated
the panel. Questions touched on cell phone use in class to internet use at school
and at home. We were frank and candid with the teachers and I think, maybe, that
some of them even listened.
It was our chance to finally, in a controlled and adult fashion, tell the teachers
just what we thought and how we perceived technology and how we felt it should
be regulated. We bluntly made the point that staving off our technology use,
blocking what seems like every useful website known to man, snatching our phones
in the hallway, and laughing at our constant texting, will not fix the dissonance
that pervades our school.
What we have to do is come to an agreement, an understanding. Teachers see that
we text - a lot. And to students, and I should take my own advice here, we cannot
just text all day long, with no respect to our teachers and classes.
How do we fix this?
Honestly, I do not have a good answer for this question, but I do know that gadgets,
our phones and MP3 players, are not going away. Teachers, students, and their
toys are going to have to find a way to live together in peace. This will take
a compromise from both sides. Students have to be mature with responsibilities
and teachers have to start to accept technology, because it is only getting better
and more pervasive.
Honestly, for my fellow seniors and me, this will not be an issue, because before
anything can change, we will be gone. To the underclassmen, this is on you. It
is up to you create the change and advocate for a school community where responsibility
breeds maturity.
I think finally, as a resident senior, I am warranted in giving some advice to
both faculty and students- you are both wrong.
Teachers, technology is not bad. Technology, to be cliché, is the future.
Students, no one will even consider giving you more responsibility if you are
consistently breaking the rules as it is. Be model students. Prove to the administration
and to the teachers that you can be responsible users of technology.
Have questions, comments, a differing opinion?
Drop me a line:
Tennisrules91@Hotmail.com Return
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