In my view, news like these ones are one of the best example of how poor state of education is becoming.. I can't understand opposition to technology in teaching. They need to understand very clearly that technology is there is to complement them not compete with them. Leveraging technology, teachers should spend more productive time with students..
This clearly seems to be self interest of these teachers/Unions.. Change is only constant and they need to embrace it. sooner or later changes will come.. Instead of fighting with changes you better fight to adapt these changes.. First of all, I assume that all the teachers have above average IQ.. If that is the case, then they should be able to understand these Technologies and the changes coming with it. Let us say somethings are really complicated and they need assistance.. in that case they should fight to get those resources..
Instead of saying that "I fought for my country.. now I am fighting for my kids", these guys should really fight and embrace changes and technology coming with it..
Here are the details of news.. feel free to comment and let me know your views..
Idaho education revolt — teachers vs. technology
Shift to computers could change role of classroom educators
By Matt Richtel
New York Times
POST FALLS, Idaho — Ann Rosenbaum, a former military police officer in the Marines, does not shrink from a fight, having even survived a close encounter with a car bomb in Iraq. Her latest conflict is quite different: She is now a high schoolteacher, and she and many of her peers in Idaho are resisting a statewide plan that dictates how computers should be used in classrooms. Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law that requires all high school students to take some online classes to graduate, and that the students and their teachers be given laptops or tablets. The idea was to establish Idaho’s schools as a high-tech vanguard. To help pay for these programs, the state may have to shift tens of millions of dollars away from salaries for teachers and administrators. And the plan envisions a fundamental change in the role of teachers, making them less a lecturer at the front of the room and more of a guide helping students through lessons delivered on computers. This change is part of a broader shift that is creating tension — a tension that is especially visible in Idaho but is playing out across the country. Some teachers, even though they may embrace classroom technology, think policymakers are thrusting computers into classrooms without their input or proper training. Some say they are opposed to shifting money to online classes and other teaching methods whose benefits remain unproven.
“Teachers don’t object to the use of technology,” said Sabrina Laine, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, which has studied the views of the nation’s teachers using grants from organizations like the Gates and Ford foundations. “They object to being given a resource with strings attached and without the needed support to use it effectively to improve student learning.”
In Idaho, teachers have been in open revolt. They marched on the capital last spring, when the legislation was under consideration. They complain that lawmakers listened less to them than to heavy lobbying by technology companies, including Apple and Intel.
Teacher and parent groups gathered 75,000 verified signatures, more than was needed, to put a referendum on the ballot in November that could overturn the law.
“This technology is being thrown on us. It’s being thrown on parents and thrown on kids,” said Rosenbaum, 32, who has written letters to the governor and schools superintendent.
In her letters she tells them she is a Republican and a Marine, because, she says, it has become fashionable around the country to dismiss complaining teachers as union-happy liberals.
“I fought for my country,” she said. “Now, I’m fighting for my kids.”
Gov. C.L. Otter, known as Butch, and Tom Luna, the schools superintendent, who have championed the plan, said teachers had been misled by their union into believing the changes were a step toward replacing them with computers.
Some teachers also have expressed concern that teaching positions could be eliminated and their raises reduced to help offset the cost of the technology.
Luna acknowledged that many teachers in the state were conservative Republicans like him — making Idaho’s politics less blackand- white than in states like Wisconsin and New Jersey, where union-backed teachers have been at odds with politicians.
Luna said he understood that technological change could be scary, particularly because teachers would need to adapt to new ways of working.
“I fought for my country. Now, I’m fighting for my kids.”
— Ann Rosenbaum
This clearly seems to be self interest of these teachers/Unions.. Change is only constant and they need to embrace it. sooner or later changes will come.. Instead of fighting with changes you better fight to adapt these changes.. First of all, I assume that all the teachers have above average IQ.. If that is the case, then they should be able to understand these Technologies and the changes coming with it. Let us say somethings are really complicated and they need assistance.. in that case they should fight to get those resources..
Instead of saying that "I fought for my country.. now I am fighting for my kids", these guys should really fight and embrace changes and technology coming with it..
Here are the details of news.. feel free to comment and let me know your views..
Idaho education revolt — teachers vs. technology
Shift to computers could change role of classroom educators
By Matt Richtel
New York Times
POST FALLS, Idaho — Ann Rosenbaum, a former military police officer in the Marines, does not shrink from a fight, having even survived a close encounter with a car bomb in Iraq. Her latest conflict is quite different: She is now a high schoolteacher, and she and many of her peers in Idaho are resisting a statewide plan that dictates how computers should be used in classrooms. Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law that requires all high school students to take some online classes to graduate, and that the students and their teachers be given laptops or tablets. The idea was to establish Idaho’s schools as a high-tech vanguard. To help pay for these programs, the state may have to shift tens of millions of dollars away from salaries for teachers and administrators. And the plan envisions a fundamental change in the role of teachers, making them less a lecturer at the front of the room and more of a guide helping students through lessons delivered on computers. This change is part of a broader shift that is creating tension — a tension that is especially visible in Idaho but is playing out across the country. Some teachers, even though they may embrace classroom technology, think policymakers are thrusting computers into classrooms without their input or proper training. Some say they are opposed to shifting money to online classes and other teaching methods whose benefits remain unproven.
“Teachers don’t object to the use of technology,” said Sabrina Laine, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, which has studied the views of the nation’s teachers using grants from organizations like the Gates and Ford foundations. “They object to being given a resource with strings attached and without the needed support to use it effectively to improve student learning.”
In Idaho, teachers have been in open revolt. They marched on the capital last spring, when the legislation was under consideration. They complain that lawmakers listened less to them than to heavy lobbying by technology companies, including Apple and Intel.
Teacher and parent groups gathered 75,000 verified signatures, more than was needed, to put a referendum on the ballot in November that could overturn the law.
“This technology is being thrown on us. It’s being thrown on parents and thrown on kids,” said Rosenbaum, 32, who has written letters to the governor and schools superintendent.
In her letters she tells them she is a Republican and a Marine, because, she says, it has become fashionable around the country to dismiss complaining teachers as union-happy liberals.
“I fought for my country,” she said. “Now, I’m fighting for my kids.”
Gov. C.L. Otter, known as Butch, and Tom Luna, the schools superintendent, who have championed the plan, said teachers had been misled by their union into believing the changes were a step toward replacing them with computers.
Some teachers also have expressed concern that teaching positions could be eliminated and their raises reduced to help offset the cost of the technology.
Luna acknowledged that many teachers in the state were conservative Republicans like him — making Idaho’s politics less blackand- white than in states like Wisconsin and New Jersey, where union-backed teachers have been at odds with politicians.
Luna said he understood that technological change could be scary, particularly because teachers would need to adapt to new ways of working.
“I fought for my country. Now, I’m fighting for my kids.”
— Ann Rosenbaum
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