The Lesson of the Time Magazine Article Wallis C, Steptoe S. How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century

With a naïve mind, I stepped into my class and assumed I was being prepared for the future and we have one of the top learning environments in the world. Everyday I go to school, however, I felt like there was something missing in the school setting. I read an article in this week's Time magazine titled, "How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century" and I realized what may be missing. We are not being prepared for the globalize profession of our future.

The world is changing. There are new advanced systems and technological breakthroughs. However, for every step forward we are moving in increasing globalization and the way we live, we are taking a step back in our education setting and educational system. The article truly changed my view on our schools because it is something that affects many people my age. I realized that most of my time in school was spent in boredom staring out the window while teachers talked over and over about things we are to just memorize. We have computers and television at home to "memorize" and regurgitate these facts for us. Instead we should really be learning on how to understand and incorporate real life situations. I remember one day I had in school, we had to memorize the names of the great lakes. It may not seem like a hard task now, but to a second grader, it was a challenge. I still have the same opinion on memorizing them back then as I do now. It just doesn't matter and I could look it up on the internet.

Computers have made our way of life much faster. With the computer you can send messages to people around the world within seconds and you can manipulate your writing into larger or fancier styles. Computers simplify researching and allow for a better paper to be written where the grader is not distracted by poor handwriting. Poor handwriting can create a bias and ideas written in the paper may not be graded fairly. I feel all assignments need to be typed to eliminate biases. Computers would also make note taking easier.

Technology can also have its drawback. I was preparing for my upcoming eighth grade science fair. I went to the library and researched through many books before actually getting a few useful resources over the course of a week. My teachers had always said that sources in books are more reliable than the internet. I think that it is pitiful that we have the internet and can't actually use it because the sources on there are less reliable. On the other hand, I used up almost a month trying to find the information I needed for the research on my project on the internet. Almost every site I went to had only a few sentences to contribute to my topic before randomly talking about something else. My teacher told me that I needed a website reference too, which really frustrated me because it was harder to find relevant websites. If we have valuable information in books that could be put on the internet we should consider it.

As a student I can say that I have become more knowledgeable to our true schooling styles. The article on how to bring the twenty first century into our schools has changed my opinion on how we learn. I realize that using our technology to advance our learning won't solve all of our problems but at least using them may be a step in the right direction. I, as a dedicated learner, will at least try and incorporate the best learning style that can prepare me for the future, which also involves globalization.

Ref: Wallis C, Steptoe S. How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century. Time . 12/18/2006