Where Should States Invest Their Educational Dollars:
Technology or Teachers?
With
the current economic situation many state legislatures are forced to make
difficult decisions when allocating their educational budgets: technology or teachers, but is this really
such a difficult decision? Assuming that
all students come to school to learn (which they don’t)more technology: more
computers, more IPads, more Smart Boards and more computerized education
program seems like an easy fix. Seriously,
would you set your five years in room with a plethora of educational toys and
no responsible adult to direct his learning?
I don’t think so. Computers,
IPads, ITVs, Smart Boards, Voice Enhancement Equipment, and any number of
computer generated testing and teaching programs may enhance education, but
they aren’t the core of education.
Schools
are not learning factories that can be manned by robots and machinery to turn
out high quality students. Students are
people. Some students are highly
motivated to learn and can learn virtually independently of others. Often these
students learn, but do not develop social skills like Sheldon Cooper in The
Big Bang Theory, absolutely brilliant person, but completely socially
inept. In our society, it is not enough
to be brilliant. Students need to
develop the communication and social skills to work in a diverse world. Most students are not highly motivated. Most people (students included) need someone
to direct their learning; someone to spark a flame of curiosity; someone who
can be proud of them when they succeed and give them emotional support and
encouragement when they fail. Most of us
need a teacher.
Technology
can enhance learning. It can make learning
exciting and fun, but if a teacher gives students a computer without
appropriate direction, the student zips to bored.com to play mindless games. Students need teachers who are passionate
about their subjects, who can instill in them a love of learning. Computers or any other electronic gadget cannot
do that. Anyone who has a teenage child
who is texting under the table at dinner can tell you that technology used
incorrectly can alienate teenagers more than it can connect them with
others. If you look at the suicide rates
among teenagers, or the violent crimes in schools, the last thing our society
needs is more alienated young people.
There are far too many deaths of youths from violence and drug over-doses
for us not to recognize that there is a problem with youth alienation. Teachers
add the human interaction that all people need to learn and grow into
responsible adults. Schools need good quality teachers, not more computers.
How do
we attract the right people to be teachers?
Teaching used to be a highly respected career. States have cut salaries
and benefits for years. Media has vilified teachers blaming them for every
problem in society. To attract the right
kind of teachers, we need to stop thinking teaching is a short-time career that
women waiting to get married settle for. Good teachers take a long time to
develop, yet some have implied that a teaching career should last be no longer
than seven years and be a stepping stone to another career. What that really means is states don’t want
to be responsible for teachers’ retirement.
That is not a good way to attract the brightest and the best to become
educators. Spending money on lavish
building and bulky microphones to hang
around teachers’ neck while teachers’ pay is so low that teachers are in the
faculty room begging the water department to not turn off their water or are
working two jobs to support their families deters the brightest minds from pursuing
a career in education. Where should
states invest their educational dollars? Try high quality teachers.
