Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Grants vs. Rights

Concerning my post on the failure of the Stim to effectively address Ed Tech, a reader writes:

More than likely, the money is not set to be a small lump sum to each school; rather, the money will likely be set up to fund grants. Hopefully the challenge grants fund some nice proposals that can help to improve schools all around the country.


Let's talk reality: the Ed Tech budget was slashed. Had the originally proposed budget been accepted on Capitol Hill, we might have been able to put Web 2.0 technology in almost every seat in every classroom in almost every public school in this country.

Mobile Wi-Fi PDAs for each kid hooked into desktop monitors. Each preloaded with educational Web 2.0 apps. Every public school kid in this country connected to the Web. Internet access as a civil right. That's what we've missed out on.

With all due respect for the reader's position, I don't want 'nice proposals for challenge grants'. I want access for all. Internet access as a civil right. Now.

Good luck with the grant writing.

1 comment:

  1. I'm with your reader, for the following reason: those who write the grant will use the resources.

    The reality is that school faculties consist of a diverse group of people. For the sake of this argument, they will be the divided into the tech-fearful and the tech-savvy. Billions of dollars spent, thousands of hours of man-power/training/logic utilized, and we will still be left with these two groups.

    So reward the extra money to those who have fought for it, those who will actually use it well. Students will be exposed to this way of learning, become more accustomed to it. Teachers will be exposed to it, thus becoming more open to it. Administrators will support it. Isn't that the hope of your blog? To be the example that inspires others to do the same?

    Throwing technology into the classroom, "every public kid['s]" classroom, is as futile as bulldozing your way using any educational philosophical doctrine. Introduce it well, and it's here to stay. Otherwise, it will go the way of EduSoft and other strange, small, laptop-like devices I found while cleaning a storage container at school...dusty and useless, expensive and completely obsolete.

    As for wanting access and wanting it now... :) I'm reminded of Louis CK's comments on Conan. Check it out, if you feel like it.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.