Finishing up Technopoly

Hi all!

Sorry for the long absence... my internet at my place of course was out all week this week, and every time I was at Panera trying to get work done, I spaced out on this blog post! Maybe internet fails are part of what Postman was warning us about...

Ok, anyways, FINALLY!!!! We are done with this book! I have to say, after reading my choice read, I disliked Postman's book even more.  Todd Oppenheimer (who wrote the book I read) had a much more balanced outlook on technology and education, and I SO appreciated that!

Postman wraps up the book by saying that he doesn't have a quick fix to all of the problems that he has pointed out in the book.  I don't know how you would have answers to the number of problems that he pointed out! With that being said, I would say that Postman's book did make me think more critically about technology- and the negative effects that it may have.  I want to now think more critically about how technology may affect me, my students, and our surrounding world.  But the hard thing is that hindsight is 20/20.  For instance, who would have thought that the clock would have such an affect on the world that we live in?  Did anyone see the effects it would have?  I also want to try really hard to not blame technology for things that I may have messed up on.  However, so far, I have failed at that it seems- did you read the first paragraph?  So, what I meant to say was that I am sorry that I am late with this blog post- I messed up.  There is some of my "takeaway" from this book.  What did you take away?

Postman Ch 9-10

I have to admit... this section of reading was one that I actually somewhat agreed with!  At the very beginning of Chapter 9, Postman shared some of the findings that Daniel Goleman had "discovered" and shared with readers.  I actually re-read the beginning of this chapter a couple times, because I thought I had misread his findings.  So you are telling me people are scared of death?  Shocking.  Oh also, he discovered that kids who are inept socially seem to be unpopular.  As a teacher, I really laughed at this one.  And yet, still today when "professionals" come out with "new discoveries," people think that they are the newest genius in town.  Why is this?  Why are we so easily swayed to think that people are so smart, when if we really look at what they are saying, its nothing that is too surprising!  People are searching for something in our world today... and they are not looking for answers in the right places!

I then started think about what I put my faith in.  Yes, I am a believer and yes, I pray about things, but I would be lying if I said that I don't sometimes place my faith in other things (without meaning to, obviously). Earlier this year, I sliced my finger with a knife, severing a nerve completely and also getting a bit of the tendon.  Did I sit there and just pray about it? No! I wrapped it up and had my husband bring me to urgent care.  Its not that I don't believe that God could have healed me, but I knew the doctor would be able to DO something about it.  It is often easier for me to put my faith into things that I can see/feel etc.  But that doesn't meant that I turn my back on the Lord.  I think that we have to appreciate science for what it is and what it can do, but also realize that the sciences have limitations, where as our God does not have any limitations!  What is it that you find yourself putting faith in?

Postman: Ch.7-8

I am tempted to title this post "More complaints from Postman."  As you may guess, this book is somewhat starting to wear on me a bit.  I get it, we need to be cautious about technology, thinking about the ramifications of said technology.  But come on, Neil- there are some good things about technology!!!

Ok, with that, here are my reflections on a few things that stood out to me in these chapters:

I found it interesting what Postman had to say about so many of our problems being blamed on computers, and it being an acceptable excuse.  I know that I have used this many times before- our society today accepts this for an excuse.  I can see where Postman is going with this argument, however, don't we often place blame on "things?"  Even in the "olden" days, couldn't you be late to work because your horse ran away?  or the wheel broke on your wagon, so you couldn't make your deliveries?  As humans, I think that we are always looking for an excuse- computers are just the latest invention to place our blame upon.  I did have to laugh at the part about the Dallas Cowboys and giving the credit for their success in the NFL to computers... and now in their not-so-successful days computers not being mentioned much.  My husband is a big Cowboys fan, so I had to chuckle about that paragraph.

The other portion that struck a chord for me was the part about multiple choice.  I remember in High School, we knew that there was a teacher who wrote their whole exam in multiple choice.  We loved it! Who had to study when there was just multiple choice questions! If you had even paid attention 40% of the time, you could narrow it down to 2 choice, which means a pretty good chance of getting it right! I agree with Postman that fill in the blank prove more understanding than multiple choice, but I still think that even fill in the blank questions don't prove a ton of understanding.  Fill in the blanks still just say to me, "hey, I can memorize things."  As teachers, don't we want students to prove their understanding, not just their memorizing skills?  I think that we need to focus on asking deeper questions, where students must show what they understand, and explain their thinking.

Postman: Ch. 5-6

I found these chapters very thought provoking.  I really enjoyed chapter 5.  To be honest, at first, I was a bit confused, but in the end I was able to make sense of it.  There were several things that hit me.  I had never really thought about the "control of information" that happens each day, in the classroom, in the home, really in the world!  I have to say that I am thankful for the information controlling that my parents did for me when I was little.  I was a very sensitive child, and I know that some things (on the news etc.) would have really been disturbing to me! (In fact, some things that I see on the news now still are disturbing to me!)  However, I do recognize that it is harder to control the information these days.  When I was little, I could not go "google" things, there was no you tube etc. Controlling information is tough to do anymore, and I believe that some of our kids are losing their innocence because of this.

The second interesting point to me was what Postman had to say about experts.  The points that Postman made were ones that I had never thought about before.  For instance, when he said that now, people are only worried about doing their part of the bureaucracy- not worried about what impact that may have on the rest of the world.  It seems that "experts" may have contributed to the self-centeredness in our world.  Postman also mentions that it is not possible for their to experts in education or child-rearing. My question, however, is how long will it be until we, as teachers, are expected to be experts in education?  I think the ball is already rolling that way- the new SB191 (I think that is the new teacher observation one?), states that teachers need to be experts and master the subjects we teach.  That is strong language for those of us who teach elementary, and in that teach all of the subjects!

I thought that Postman really raised some questions in these chapters and made me think deeply about the effect that technology and experts (along with selfishness) has had on our society.