Summer is turning to fall and it’s starting to feel as if there is a little breeze to the air. The winds of change are rippling out into the education system. Education seams to have been spending a bit more time in the spotlight lately. Which is not a bad thing. Talking about improving education can only be good.
With the film Waiting for Superman on its way to theaters, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim, there has been rejuvenation in the debate of our education system. The film seams to tackle the productivity of charter and public schools, and brushes on controversial topics of performance based pay for teachers and ending tenure for un-productive teachers.
Oprah spent a day discussing education and the documentary on her show where she unveiled a 100 million dollar donation by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, to the failing Newark schools system.
In the senate democrat Tome Harkin has proposed a cut of funding to for-profit colleges. This is an issue that directly affects me. The thought is that to many students amass large amounts of debt dropout and then default on these massive loans.
So education has been busy becoming the talk of the town lately. Lets hope that this helps us move in a positive direction. :0)
Referances:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/09/30/bloomberg1376-L9KYK81A74E901-0DG69CV545LPHQ8PGD7PBNH9RS.DTL
I found it so affirming that you said, “Every post to a social network and every email you send must be written with the mindset, ‘What if my mother was to read this?’” I tell my daughters this all the time. I ask them would they write this if I was standing over their shoulder watching them. To know that there are other people out there that share the same belief is rather comforting.
ReplyDeleteIn your activity, you stated “There have been many cases of employees being terminated due to a Facebook posting or an improperly forwarded email.” It is interesting you bring this up because the principal at my daughter’s middle school spoke about this very topic. He cautioned students and parents to be careful with what they put out on the internet. Not only are people getting fired because of content, but employers are ‘Googling’ the applicants even before they are given a job interview. And in some cases, applicants are screened in this manner when they apply to colleges. Her principal reminded the students when you post something to the internet that it is out their forever. There are no ‘take backs’ when the internet is involved.
In reference to your statement “As educators I believe it is our job to maintain a positive online identity and to inform and stress the importance of this to our students.” I couldn’t agree more. I continue to stress this very idea to my own children each and every day. Just as I believe it’s important for teachers to maintain a secure and accurate online identity, I also strongly believe that it is up to the teachers to help provide the guidance that is needed for our students to create and maintain theirs. We can’t wait for online etiquette to catch up with the pace of the growth of data on the internet. With the innovation and advancements in technology that are emerging today and on the horizon, there may come a day when our online identities are indeed secure and accurate. Until that time comes it’s up to each individual to be vigilant about maintaining their own.