Growing up working class and black I can tell you that few of my friends in the neighborhood were without both a mother and a father. Even as a young teacher if a student acted up in your class you could call home and count on talking to either parent, in many instances. The parent would ask the question, "What did my child do?" They entertained the possibility that their child might have done something wrong. Imagine that! Unlike today when the question is more like, "What did that teacher do to my child?" What a different world it was. Parents holding their child accountable for their actions. Not coincidentally, few people had their lawyer on speed dial when any real or contrived wrong happened.
Writing like this makes me sound like some ancient curmudgeon, doesn't it. The point is that since change was not as swift and things seemed a lot more stable, solving problems was like shooting at a stationary target or fish in a barrel. Now it's like shooting at a target that never slows down and keeps moving in an erratic, nonpredictable pattern. Today there are problems that do not have simple solutions.
Solving problems with issues like the prevalence of consumer technology (cell phones) in the schools with students taking pictures or texting when they are forbidden to do so seems so easy to solve. In the past this would not have been a problem since cell phones didn't exist. You had to go to the office to use one of the few phones available in the building. (Can you imagine how that lack of access would have worked in a horrific situation like Columbine where cell phones could help alert officials to where the danger was occuring). It wouldn't have even been a problem in the 80's when cell phones first came out. Those phones barely fit into a backpack let alone a pocket. Watch someone using one in an 80's movie and laugh along with me. Texting? Those phones barely made phone calls! Today people suggest that we just forbid the existence of those phones in the school. That would be a simple solution, but think of the famililes whose students never abuse the use of these phones except turn them on after school so that they can tell their parent that basketball practice is over and they need to be picked up.
Completely forbid cell phones in school buildings. I am sorry, but that genie is out of the bottle. You can control the use of technology, but it is impossible to go back to the days before it existed?
I can remember copyright laws. To be sure, they still exist but how enforceable are they? Kids can go to websites and download music on their iPods without paying a dime. There are pirated copies of the latest movies on the internet, some before they even arrive at the theaters. I am not condoning any of this. I am just asking, "How do you enforce laws with absolute certainty when technology is making such enforcement harder and harder to accomplish?" The other side of the argument is that phone technology is enabling these devices to make more than just phone calls. My new cell phone is an internet browser, calculator, communications device and television (along with a lot of other features that I haven't figured out yet). I was waiting to pick up a son from an airplane flight a week ago and his flight was delayed due to weather. No problem. I just took out my phone, went to TV.com and watched MaGyver! I could have also expanded by vocabulary by tapping into my Spanish dictionary or other apps.
You see, there are potential educational uses for these devices as well. Some schools and districts are beginning to explore the educational uses. My point is that technology is about to become so expansive and invasive that some of the smarter ones among us might figure out how to use it as a problem solver rather than as a problem.
