Common sense revolts.

Ben Grey wrote a blog post a couple of weeks ago that I’ve been sitting on, knowing that I needed to respond, but loath to start because I knew what it would require to do it justice. He asks people to respond to a very simple question: “Why Technology?”

Often, nobody is given the opportunity to defend the cutting of budgets or programs. But what if they were? What if you were? If tomorrow you had to stand in front of your Board of Education and respond to the question, “why should we continue to use and pursue technology in our district,” what would you say?

My initial smartass answer is, “why not?” But obviously that doesn’t do it justice. So I sat down and thought about it. And then I came back to it. Again and again I mulled it over and couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I know how important it is, but I was having trouble pinning down exactly why I felt as strongly as I do.

It all gelled together when I saw what I thought was an unrelated video. Someone on Twitter linked to the Larry Lessig Ted Talks video as an example of how to use 200 slides in a 20 minute presentation in a GOOD way. However, when I only got about four minutes in before I had to stop watching.

At the 2:54 mark, he begins to tell a story about property laws. Trespassing laws used to extend property borders straight up, all the way to the sky. When airplanes began flying overhead, the question was raised before the Supreme Court, whether planes flying over property were trespassing. It seems some farmers were worried about the planes distressing their chickens. So the Supreme Court studied the law, discussed the issue, and as you might imagine they ruled that the farmers were wrong, and that “the doctrine protecting land all the way to the sky has no place in the modern world.” Just think about how complicated it would be if those LA to DC flights had to zig zag around different properties. And then came the phrase that made me hit the stop button. “Common sense revolts at the idea.”

And there you go. Failing to teach our students technology? “Common sense revolts at the idea.” That sums it all up for me. It’s an integral part of our world at this point. It’s not a matter of preparing them for life, it’s a matter of setting them up to be successful. It’s a matter of giving them every advantage. It’s a matter of teaching them ethics, citizenship and… well… common sense. And to be honest, it’s a question that we shouldn’t even be asking anymore.

At some point, we accepted that every student needs to know how to read and write in order to be successful. Well, technology falls under the same category. The problem is, people assume that just because a student is classified as Digital Native, people think the student knows everything they need to be successful. That simply isn’t the case. Is uploading video to YouTube a skill? Something that can be done ‘well’ or ‘poorly’. Take a look at this video and compare that with all the videos on YouTube of kids smoking Salvia and you tell me whether there’s a difference, or a teachable moment waiting to happen.

So why technology?

Because every career in the world is being impacted by it.

Because every student has an equal opportunity to ruin their chances of being successful through it.

Because it’s the right thing to do.

It’s just common sense.

14 Comments

Cynthia Alvarado
5/20/2009

Do we argue about why we need pencils in schools? Technology is the tool of productivity in our time.

Cynthia Alvarado´s most recent blog post.. Why We Need a New School Paradigm

Twitted by dobrien917
5/20/2009

[...] This post was Twitted by dobrien917 – Real-url.org [...]

ucdjoe
5/20/2009

Great blog post http://bit.ly/h5oNg

Donelle O'Brien
5/20/2009

Enjoyed this response (http://bit.ly/h5oNg) to this: http://tiny.cc/wMZcJ and this: http://tiny.cc/2DZYo

Josh
5/21/2009

I think you make a great point about EVERY career being impacted. I was talking with our curriculum director the yesterday and he was talking about newer farming equipment that measures soil and applies fertilizer on an as needed basis. Not only does it save the farmer money in fertilizer, but it makes for a better overall crop. Whether you work at McDonald’s or Microsoft, your success will depend on using and adapting to appropriate technology.
Great post Steve. Making us Star DEN’s proud as always

Josh´s most recent blog post.. The Fridge’s Weekly Bookmarks (weekly)

Josh Allen
5/21/2009

Just read – Common sense revolts. – by @teach42 http://bit.ly/h5oNg

Donelle O'Brien
5/23/2009

@sheasmith read this: http://bit.ly/h5oNg

Shea Smith
5/24/2009

@dobrien917 re: Teach42 article (http://bit.ly/h5oNg). Thanks for sharing that with me. Good stuff!

Donelle O'Brien
5/25/2009

@tipsbytony Read Steve Dembo’s post here: http://bit.ly/h5oNg

Douglas Sackett
5/29/2009

I am an “Academic Technologist” who works with many teachers, assisting them in using technology in their classrooms and beyond. I am always very curious as to why an individual teacher may not want to use technology. I can understand an argument based on poor equipment and infrastructure, but if reasonable equipment and infrastructure exists, why would a teacher not want to use technology?
One of my goals is to “convince” teachers about the value of technology in their teaching. The “it’s just common sense” statement might be a great starting point to an open discussion on technology use in school. Question: Is using technology in teaching “Common Sense”? Why or why not? That could foster some excellent discussions.

Chad Lehman
6/6/2009

This isn’t news, but not everyone making the decisions for our students has common sense. So legislators? Do Board Members? Do Administrators?

Chad Lehman´s most recent blog post.. I’m Thinking about My Position

Josh
6/8/2009

I feel the same way about personal economics. I had a friend who insisted that the only way to build up your credit score was to not pay off your total credit card balance every month, because a 0 balance credit line is invisible to banks. It’s like, can we at least get everyone a basic foundation of knowledge so they can recognize when they are throwing money out the window?

And to a lesser extent, cooking and nutrition. These seem like subjects that are so vital to adult life – everyone should know what to do when they get to a grocery store.

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8/28/2009

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