Speaking up about technology

I have many mixed feelings about the opinions and statements that were made throughout this survey

• Students feel that they should be allowed to have cell phones in the classroom in case of an emergency.

I don't see anything wrong with this as long as the teachers enforce the students that they are to keep their phone on vibrate at all times and there will be consequences if they are caught text messaging through lessons. However, I think it is ridiculous for 5 year olds to even have a cell phone. Is it really becoming that tidious for parents to call the school in the event something happened?

• The fact that definitions seem to be changing because of online communication and technology just seems rather foolish to me. For example, the word "Friend".

I cannot personally say that I communicate with people online that I don't communicate with in person, but if I did, I would not walk around saying I have "online friends" and "face to face friends". I understand the article is just trying to state that students are communicating with people all over the world who they may never meet, but to change the meaning of what a friend is, is ridiculous.

• "[Students] tell us overwhelmingly that they feel they could do so much more if they could present [information they have collected] in a multimedia or PowerPoint presentation."

If anyone watches Grey's Anatomy, something "McSteamy" said should have caught your ears last week. "He is doing a powerpoint presentation in the board meeting? What are we, back in 1998?"

According to him, power point presentations aren't the big thing that they used to be, however, I can relate to the students enjoying power point presenations because I myself have gotten much use out of them.

• "More than two-thirds of parents said they are unsatisfied with the amount of time their children are spending using technology in school and how well this technology is being integrated into core academic subjects."

There is only one way parents can truly understand if technology is being integrated into their child's academics. Sit in on a lesson. I am not sure if schools still do this, but in my elementary school and in my middle school, parents were asked and allowed to come into their child's classroom and observe the work they are doing and how their child is in a classroom. Parents cannot assume that teachers are doing their jobs correctly just because their child comes home with homework assignments. I think it should be an anual event when parents come to sit in on their child's school day.

• "In addition, 41 percent of parents said they wanted information about their children's grades sent directly to them via eMail, as opposed to having to go to the school's web site for this information."

Are parents truly this lazy that they need the information put right in front of their faces instead of doing a few steps to get to the school website? Why are they making the teachers go out of their way when grades would already be posted on the school website?

Eventually, parents will not have to worry about technology being used mainly in their child's core classes because it will be used in every class for every subject one day.