When it comes to education, especially in this day and age, I don't think there's a single student who doesn't use the Internet for one thing or another. Whether it's utilizing the web as a research tool or e-mailing teachers or classmates to ask questions about current assignments, I think it's safe to say that computers have become a necessary component in the learning process. As such, I think a great deal of the burden in preparing students for the future, which will undoubtedly include computers and the Internet, should fall on our public school systems. While I understand that the governor of our fair state has not been so kind to the budgets of our school districts as of late, I was happy to hear that the Arcadia School District will be implementing a new program that will provide every child the opportunity to have hands-on learning with computers.
While this new program will be geared toward the upperclassmen within the district and won't be fully implemented for a few years yet, it's certainly a far cry from the days when I was in high school. I may not be all that old, but I do remember saving assignments onto 8-inch floppy disks and getting typhoid along the Oregon Trail. I can't tell you how much it frustrated me to go hunting, kill 2,000 pounds of food and only be allowed carry 200 pounds of it. But, in all reality, it's quite crazy how fast this technological phenomenon has swept the country. When my parents were in school, they had to use typewriters – and not the ones that were electronic with automatic delete button. Oh no, back in those days, the delete or backspace keys as we know them were non-existent. If a wrong letter was typed, you would have to hit the backspace key, place a corrective tape strip in front of the letter to be corrected, hit the same letter key to cover up the boo-boo, remove the correcting strip, hit backspace again and then type the correct letter. Needless to say, it was almost easier to start over on a new piece of paper than to make a mistake.
It simply blows my mind that people nowadays have the capability to surf the Internet or send and receive e-mails on their phones. As sad as it may sound, I don't know how I would be able to survive a single day without my iPhone; it's practically been attached to my hand since I got it. Regardless, I can only imagine how hard this transition to computers, e-mail and the Internet has been on my parents' generation. Believe me, I've gotten more than one phone call from the parental units asking for help with the simple act of cutting and pasting in Microsoft Word. But that's neither here nor there.
The fact is, when my parents were in school, they took typing classes. When I was in school, I took keyboarding and did a significant amount of research for college term papers on the Internet. As technology continues to advance, it's only fair that schools continue to give students these same types of opportunities – albeit much more advanced – to get ahead in life.
Because every child may not have access to this type of technology at home, it should be the responsibility of our public school systems to make sure students have, at the very least, a basic understanding of computers and the Internet. After all, these children are the future. We need to make sure the are properly prepared to handle the challenges they will face when it comes time for them to enter the workforce.
Jennie Oemig
Staff Writer
Trempealeau County Times
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