Do Students Really Need More Tech Time?

While our Governor was having a press release declaring an meaningless Executive Order to keep the Feds out of Oklahoma Education, the Dept. of Ed was submitting a request for the second $5 MILLION grant to complete our Student Data Superhighway, which will collect data on our students without parental consent to share with all the other State Agencies, i.e. Dept. of Corrections, DHS, etc. plus the other education “Stakeholders” which we have come to understand means pretty much whomever will pay for it to either market TO our children or worse, market our children’s futures.  
    I see our State Dept. of Ed getting bigger and bigger budgets, not including the local school bonds for “technology,” along with e-rate grants (that little extra fee you pay on your cell phone bill thanks to AlGore), and donations with software already installed from the ever-so-helpful Bill Gates.   Money, money, money for a faux crisis.  We’ve seen it all before.  Until our current decade, America still led the world in almost everything good and prosperous.

So what is all this need for technology in our schools?  When is the last time you have heard a parent or a teacher say,  “Darn, what these kids need is more time with tech gadgets!”  No.  No, they really don’t.  Most of us are trying to peel them away from the gadget that is robbing their social and problem-solving skills and point to the front door.  Quite frankly, I think students would learn more on a farm, and become better citizens for it.    You know it’s true. Maybe we should have a program where they go learn, start to finish, how to raise a crop and take it to market.  Not only would the land not be broken or outdated in six months to a year, they might actually produce something useful like food, or beautiful, like flowers.  I am certain it would produce better character.    
    Instead, the educrats and Common Core supporters would have them staring and glaring at a computer screen that is collecting data on them, so someone far far away can make an assessment to decide which business (stakeholder) they should be groomed for.  Is it really more important to categorize our students than to get to know their individual strengths and applaud them to success?

I am not alone in thoughts.  I have the company of Jenni White, founder of Restore OK Public Education, and Albert Einstein.

From Jenni:  “This is why technology in schools is good for anyone who wants a controlled, dumbed down populace. High school maybe, none of the others, however. ‘Engagement’ becomes disengagement very easily and very quickly.”