a-changin' times
Education's a different meat these days. From what I've heard, they don't do things the way they used to back in our time. Take, for example, the latest polytechnic in town.
Most notably, there's no such thing as lectures and tutorials now. All the teacher has to do everyday is to pop up in the morning and present the day's project assignment, disappear and leave the students to discuss, and reappear at the end of the day for a class discussion. Drastically different, don't you think? But that's not what I'm going to talk about.
Over there, every teacher gets a tablet PC and is encouraged to use it in the teaching. And what really raised my eyebrow was the fact that every student must buy one too. This isn't exactly new. Several years back we've already heard of schools doing that. But the way I heard it, this particular school is so technologically savvy it puts most corporations to shame.
I'm all for technology - it's a wonderful thing, non? The Internet has changed our lives, much like cars, airplanes, radio, television and sliced kaya toast. In fact, we're all blessed to witness the effects of this phenomenon. But sometimes there's a need to know where to draw the line. And this tablet PC business sort of crosses the line for me.
These tablets tend to cost upwards of $3000. Is it really a necessity? Wouldn't normal laptops do? There's a need to distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves, and even by today's standards there's no doubt which category the tablets fall under. If you ask me, even laptops shouldn't be compulsory. Plain cheap desktops sitting at home should suffice just nicely. Didn't all of us get a whole lifetime's worth of education sans such fancy gadgets?
Somehow you get the feeling they do such things for the bragging rights, allowing them to show off to parents and fellow educators and attract prospective students. I suppose those students with financial difficulties will receive help to buy the tablets. But what about those somewhere in the middle who don't qualify and as a result get their pockets badly burnt? Can they opt out? Or do they have to opt out of the school altogether? Something's got to give. My guess is interest-free loans for the students. Not a bad way to get them going on the loan-laden adulthood that's so commonplace here. I'm glad my schools didn't require such a thing during my time. The tuition fee loan alone was already quite a burden, thank you very much!
Technology for the sake of it? Or am I just an old fart with a prehistoric school of thought?
Most notably, there's no such thing as lectures and tutorials now. All the teacher has to do everyday is to pop up in the morning and present the day's project assignment, disappear and leave the students to discuss, and reappear at the end of the day for a class discussion. Drastically different, don't you think? But that's not what I'm going to talk about.
Over there, every teacher gets a tablet PC and is encouraged to use it in the teaching. And what really raised my eyebrow was the fact that every student must buy one too. This isn't exactly new. Several years back we've already heard of schools doing that. But the way I heard it, this particular school is so technologically savvy it puts most corporations to shame.
I'm all for technology - it's a wonderful thing, non? The Internet has changed our lives, much like cars, airplanes, radio, television and sliced kaya toast. In fact, we're all blessed to witness the effects of this phenomenon. But sometimes there's a need to know where to draw the line. And this tablet PC business sort of crosses the line for me.
These tablets tend to cost upwards of $3000. Is it really a necessity? Wouldn't normal laptops do? There's a need to distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves, and even by today's standards there's no doubt which category the tablets fall under. If you ask me, even laptops shouldn't be compulsory. Plain cheap desktops sitting at home should suffice just nicely. Didn't all of us get a whole lifetime's worth of education sans such fancy gadgets?
Somehow you get the feeling they do such things for the bragging rights, allowing them to show off to parents and fellow educators and attract prospective students. I suppose those students with financial difficulties will receive help to buy the tablets. But what about those somewhere in the middle who don't qualify and as a result get their pockets badly burnt? Can they opt out? Or do they have to opt out of the school altogether? Something's got to give. My guess is interest-free loans for the students. Not a bad way to get them going on the loan-laden adulthood that's so commonplace here. I'm glad my schools didn't require such a thing during my time. The tuition fee loan alone was already quite a burden, thank you very much!
Technology for the sake of it? Or am I just an old fart with a prehistoric school of thought?
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2 Comments:
I like "prehistoric school of thought" =)
I totally agree... haiz... 7 more years to go pour moi...
round-headed sister...
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