I have a dear friend who helps me to think outside the box in many ways. She is an educator as well. One of her teachings goes something like this… We need to stop thinking in “win-lose/either-or” terms when we set priorities for education. In other words, we can pursue our ideals without constantly thinking - “Yeah right - this would be nice just as soon as my kids’ school has funding for a PE teacher, an art teacher, a music teacher, a librarian, and maybe some school buses for the district." We live in what feels like a middle class area, yet we have lost almost all of these in the past six years, while I sat helplessly by on the PTA board, sponsoring jog-a-thons and pancake breakfasts with one hand, deciding whether to make the slash through "classroom supplies" or "field-trip funds for the under-privileged" with the other.
So… I must admit that these are the thoughts I am battling as I read this lovely vision for technology in education. That plus “Yes! These are the essential conditions for all of the things we should have in the classroom.” It is a very thorough and well laid out plan.
<3 Nina
ReplyDeleteI find myself saying the same things as you do about education, Nina. It does seem like we are all waiting for funding and meanwhile classrooms are slipping by without those resources they need. Maybe it is just the cynic in me, and it makes me feel a little dark to smirk at that list of essential conditions and think, yeah right. It IS possible, though, funding or no. I think it is really about a frame of mind that is apart from cynicism. I'm almost there, really.
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