As I sit in my house on a gloomy, rainy Labor Day in Virginia Beach, I think about the more than 2400 students who will begin their first day of the school year at our high school tomorrow.
I wonder--will they face the same old "stuff" they've seen all their lives in classrooms--the "stuff" that caused my nephew to say, "School gets in the way of my life"?
I recently visited with my friends who have twin boys who will be 3 next month. One sat on either side of me, one with my iPod Touch (it's NOT an iTouch), and the other with my iPhone. They often traded, just for variety, I guess.
Here's the amazing thing about that. I have often handed my iPhone to an adult to allow him or her to borrow it for a phone call. Without exception, that adult has looked at me in fear and stated that she or he had no idea what to do with the phone.
But these almost-three-year-olds don't even need help. Okay, so their "Grammy" has an iPhone and showed them how to look at pictures. But the point is, they are as comfortable with the Apple technology as most adults are with a pen and piece of paper. And they didn't need my help exploring the games I have installed, and other apps their Grammy doesn't have. (One of them even made a phone call--thank goodness to my brother.)
So when our high school students arrive tomorrow, do we hand them technology, or do we tell them to take out their pens and paper? Do we reach them where they live, or do we take them back 20 years and "get in the way of their lives"? Do we prepare them for the future, or do we bind them to the past?
It's our choice, and they're trusting us to make the right one.
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