chapter 8

I liked this chapter because I feel like it finally answered the question of what this new technology revolution would look like. It was really hard for me to take the technology enthusiasts’ perspectives while reading previous chapters because they didn’t explain this very well. They made good points such as customization, more engagement in learning, and less competition, but I still had questions about what it would like if education were to be implemented in this way. It sounded like people were just going to decide on a daily basis what they wanted to learn about. The way that booked described it in this chapter allowed me to actually envision it being like that one day. I liked the fact that “most children would continue with the kinds of elementary schools and middle schools they now attend to make sure they had experience with different kinds of students and teachers, and could envision different education paths.” It’s important to me that children encounter people different from themselves on a regular basis so that they will learn appropriate social interaction skills. I also think it’s important for them to learn how to solve problems and find solutions cooperatively. In most career choices, you are required to be able to get along with other co-workers and even complete tasks with one another. I also liked the fact that once students get older they begin to take both required credential programs and preferred credential programs. There is always going to be knowledge that we all need to know to be successful such as reading, writing, and basic math and therefore I see the need for making these required credentials. But there is definitely classes that I took in high school that I know I will never use and did not interest me at all. Pre-calculus was a required math course for me to take to get in the early childhood education major although I’m pretty sure I won’t be using that when teaching kindergarteners. Having the opportunity to get credentials in areas of interest is highly motivating. I also liked the fact that it is not just academic credentials but also skills that will be needed on the job such as generic skills and technical skills. The fact that the government would pay for a certain amount of credentials makes sense; it’s just like how public school is free and then you take on the responsibility of paying yourself if you want further education. One problem I saw was that they suggested high schools stay on a particular path for a certain amount of years. I feel like it would be hard for teens to make such a big decision. I know people in college that still don’t know what they want to do after graduating. So if students are credentialed for a certain career and then decide they don’t like it, they are somewhat stuck. Hopefully that will not be too much of an issue if schools are providing a variety of courses for the students to take to figure out what they are interested in. I like the idea of students learning from someone else, then learning with others, and then teaching others the material. It’s obvious that you really know the information if you can teach it to others. I don’t know how this chapter is going to affect the way that I teach children. I hope I can teach what I am required to teach by embedding it into material that is more interesting to the students. I’m not sure that this change is going to affect early childhood educators since it said that most children would continue to attend the kind of elementary schools they attend now.