After the low point I reached yesterday with the guest speaker who was invited to our school to talk about the negatives associated with technology, it was good to hear today that many other teachers and parents shared my misgivings. Some students appeared to have got the message that using a computer makes you anorexic and lonely, others that it makes you obese and lonely. I think it's negative and destructive to try to turn back the clock, the horse has already left the stable so it's no use closing the barn door now! Our students have mobile phones and laptop computers, they are on Facebook and other social networking sites. They need advice from us about responsible use, about being good digital citizens. A "just say no" approach is not going to work. In a great analogy, one of our teachers said to me today, "You don't take children up to the top of a mountain and send them off skiing down a black run, you start them on the nursery slopes first." I think that school is a great place for our students to learn responsible use of technology and when I reflect on what our students are doing with technology I feel extremely positive. I don't feel like we are dwelling on the flood - I feel our teachers and students are working together to build the ark.
Photo Credit: Noah's Ark Toy Skirball Cultural Center Los Angeles by Al Hikes AZ
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