Did You Know?

As I watched the video "Did You Know", I was suddenly struck with the very truth of the place technology holds in the educational world. It has held this place because it is such a vital link in our world in general. Without knowledge of how to use computers and related technology, a person can be compared to someone in a library who cannot read. Vast amounts of information is in cyberspace and you have to know how to reach it, capture it and use it. More knowledge is available than can be kept in one place and yet this knowledge needs to be available to everyone. This knowledge is the key to communication throughout the world. How can we communicate without knowledge of the subject we are communicating with or about. What library is going to be large enough? What classroom can be large enough to contain everything we want to know? What better way to share information fast enough for the information to be useful than through computers. As our world grows, so must our technology and our ability to use the technology available to us.

The technology is out there to be used but the equipment is not available to everyone who needs it. Meeting this need should be a concern of everyone who wants an educated, well informed society, who can meet the world and interact with it. We need to address this with our congressional representatives. We need to get communities involved in fund raising to bring computers to the classroom. The very businesses that will one day want to hire some of these students will want someone capable of using this technology and someone able to grow with it. So, I think we as a community, as a nation we have got to convince these companies to help prepare students with the computers they need in their classrooms today. It is an investment in tomorrow that we can't afford to miss. The gains are just to high and in comparison the losses can be devastating.

If we don't act now we will lose our place as a strong country because our citizens will not have the education needed to be knowledgeable, purposeful and responsible. How can a country stand strong without it's people knowing about other cultures, languages, politics and religions. This isn't something that we can aford to ignore if we want to continue growing in the new millennium. We have to do what ever it takes to keep up in the world, so that we can be a productive, knowledge based society and that means for everyone. So, speak up, start fundraisers, write letters, make calls and fight for what we need. Are you with me?