Two Generations 375

The point of “Two Generations: One Thriving, One Failing is of great interest to me. If the digital divide wasn’t wide enough, the educational failure in this country will far surpass technology. Tapscott describes the Net Generation as the most educated Americans to come. The down side is with the minority populations. Money often follows the wealthier neighborhoods as they rely on antiquated funding resources. Funding is based on property taxes. Home ownership is significantly reduced in poor, rural areas as well as intercity. Large industry failures such as the fall of Aerospace, Automotive, and other economic industries further affect the loss of home ownership. In the 1970’s, Boeing literally left whole neighborhoods empty and thousands out of work, and schools suffered. This pattern today is more relevant with the lack of jobs and the housing crisis. Who is going to pay the property taxes? What schools will remain open in these affected areas?


The research study indicated whites in suburban areas graduated at a 76% and blacks at 53.4%, and Hispanics at 57.8%. The numbers are not astonishing as there was a shift in the early 1990’s to education reform. One of the worse slogan’s of the Bush era was “Leave no child behind.” The biggest impacts I saw working as a vocational counselor was young adults with a lack of Adult Basic Education skills. Standardized testing led to the “teaching to the test” and in our state, to the WASL. There aren’t many WASL jobs I know of…One thing it did was shed light on the lack of funding and performance issues plaguing the nation. Achievement was tested through bench marks, giving the same tests, over and over. Those schools who failed lost federal funding. In addition, teachers are severely underpaid across America, rural or suburban. They also discovered teachers without credentials teaching in the south. Even worse, schools in the south (Following Katrina) were found to not have books, adequate water or bathroom facilities. Some teachers have to maintain educational requirements yearly, yet there is minimal support for the social issues they face in schools. This barely scratches some of the issues facing teachers who are not provided with proper technology or support to adapt to a technological world. I could keep going…

How can kids today engage or re-engage in education when standardize testing and lack of modern curriculums are widespread? Teachers cannot be effective with clay tablets! The system fails on many levels. I agree with Tapscott in that the shift from teacher to facilitator of education is important. Ridding the system of “we have always walked uphill both ways” needs to go. The rise in charter schools and home schooling speaks volumes of parents and educators being fed up with the public system. The best teacher I ever had started the year off with giving everyone A’s. She told us,” Now you have to learn how to keep and use it to your benefit.” At first I thought she was daft. I worked harder learning that year because I had felt like I was part of something. I was hooked! Little did we all know learning to keep it was twice the work. I thought the teacher had an excellent idea in that students will work harder if they have stake in the outcome. The current system is broken beyond repair and change is needed to integrate technology, teachers, and students into a unified system…I will step off the soap box!