In chapter four of Esther Dyson's
book Release 2.0 she writes about how education and the Net are
important. According to Dyson, education is important because
it is the fundamental "asset" individuals will need to succeed in the world
of the future. It is needed to figure out how to do things better
or do better things. One needs education to make decisions about
one's own life. For example: finances, children's future education.
Education will provide skills that people need to handle and interpret
information.
Dyson says that the net can help connect teachers
and other school personnel to one another also to parents and to students.
Teachers have another part of their professional life outside the classroom
like working on lesson plans, keeping up with developments in their fields
and communicating with parents. Compared to a clerical worker, teachers
do not have the tools to communicate with the outside world. Also,
due to the limited funding teachers rarely get advice or information
on the newest technologies. The Net makes it cheaper and easier for
teachers to learn from others, trade ideas, plan events like field trips
and guest speakers. It also helps get in touch with parents, post
class information, assignments for everyone to see.
Dyson continues by saying the Net also helps connect kids with one another. Not only in the same school but through out the world as well. Kids can organize social events, study in groups, collaborate homework and projects. Now having a pen pal is not as cumbersome as before but rather easy. The Net also connects kids to schools and resources. Children can educate themselves through surfing the net and talking to experts. However, kids still needs guidance and this is where the teachers and parents play an important role. The Net is only a tool valuable to those who have the motivation and drive to use it. With the Net children are able to visit Africa one day and watch a video about the French history all with English translation another day.
The Net connects kids to their parents. Parents can also monitor their children's net use . For example with pornography, parents can talk to their child about why they don't want their children reading or looking at pornography. On the internet children have the opportunity to interact with other people as adults. It also exposes them to messages that are meant for adults and not children. Parents may feel uneasy about this but the good news is that the Net does allow you to experiment more safely than you could in real life.
The Net allows you to educate yourself, therefore
you have control of your education. It offers you information on
schools that you may want to attend. The Net has a way of making
problems visible, therefore opening it up for solutions. One solution
is the Great Schools project set up by Smart Valley Inc. It focused
on 500 public schools in Silicon Valley . They all published statistics
about the schools, like how many students graduate and at what age.
Is the rate going up or down. How many have jobs upon graduation.
What kind of jobs? All the information they need on the schools will
be available at their fingertips.
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