I grew up in a small town. One where we compared our town to the next one over based on how many traffic lights we had. It was pretty exciting when a computer repair store opened up. My brothers and I would ride our bikes there and pay per hour to play computer games. The elementary school I went to jumped on the technology train right away and got a couple of those black and green screened Apple computers with programs to practice math problems and word games. From then on computers in school became part of the curriculum rather than a useful tool. At first, they were helpful to hone skills like math and English that we applied somewhere else, but eventually the focus was turned directly to the computer itself and improving computer skills because jobs in the future would require that as well.
I witnessed some of the old ways being updated to the new ways. Since I grew up during the time that education was really making the switch to the computer age, I saw classrooms being turned into computer labs. In my seventh grade English class I was required to use pen for everything and always write in cursive. Then I would go to my typing class where I needed to get faster and more accurate because my teacher told us that soon every document for school would be typed. I remember thinking that wouldn’t happen because computers were for games, but now I can tell which one stuck. I was always drawing and coloring when I was younger and when my mom got a computer at home for school I began drawing on the computer. In middle school I took a drafting class and learned how to make prints with a pencil, compass, and ruler and it was hard to draw a perfect circle. Then, in junior high, I had another drafting class where we used a computer and it was impossible not to draw a perfect circle. I used to make flip books and short cartoons with pencil and paper. When I finished high school, I wanted to be an animator and started learning more computer animation, especially in 3-D. As I grew up, it seemed like technology was evolving right under my finger tips. Now that a lot of my education was centered around a keyboard, it really was.
Not only was the way class was functioning changed, but the material being taught as well. The internet opened up so many new resources and huge amounts of information. Before, if we had to do a report on a country and two kids picked the same one, then the same report was given twice because there was only one encyclopedia the library. A few years ago, I took an auto repair class and we had to do some research to explain how different systems of a car worked. When we shared what we found in class, even the teacher learned new things because the were so many different sources each student was using from the internet.
The computer has even extended my education. Before, when I was done with class and not at the school, I was done learning. Now, if I have more questions or still curious about something, I can continue learning at home. I can look up websites and articles, find local events or business associated with that subject, and even find more information in the library’s catalog and request a book from a different town to be delivered to my local library.
We will never be without computers again, so we will continue to update and improve our education along with the technology. I agree with Thomas Friedman that individuals have the power to compete like they are big in a flat world. Computers have made that possible so our education is not only more reliant on computers and the tools they offer but it is essential that we collect as much of that power for ourselves as we can. Computers have sped up education and created more depth in the amount of information we are exposed to, so we have to work harder to keep up with the ever changing technology.
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