On one hand I’m extremely excited about what the future
holds for easy and vast information sharing. I see statements like this: “The
district’s assessment system could alert administrators and educators when
students are in danger of failing so that they can provide intervention
quickly.” (Solomon & Schrum, 2010, p. 165) I start picturing the amazing
possibilities about a student transferring schools and the new teachers at the
click of a button able to pinpoint exactly what he or she needs based on prior
experiences. It really is thrilling. All relevant participants can find out
anything and everything they need to know in no time at all from the comfort of
their homes.
But then the cynicism starts to creep in.
How many steps are we away from the system being corrupted?
If everything is reduced to numbers in documents, and that’s how we’re all
judged, who’s to say the day won’t come when that information will be bought
and sold? Am I going to have trouble getting a job because someone was able to
find out that I had a disciplinary issue in my 5th grade math class,
and the potential employer doesn’t want to take any chances? I fear the
greatest fear that the decidedly human elements of life are way too close to
being reduced to bubbles filled out in computerized data collection forms.
I am not what a computer, paperwork, or statistical analysis
says I am. I am me. I will always be me. Do I come with a lot of complicated
baggage? Absolutely. I also come with many qualities no computer will ever be
able to measure.
I think it is imperative that we as the future of education
recognize that technology exists to make what we’re doing easier and better.
But there are so many ways it could make things worse as well, and we need to
keep in mind at every waking moment that whereas technology must serve us, we
must never become slaves to it. Technology is not good; it is neutral. It’s up
to us to make sure it is used only for making the world a better place.
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