Michelle Gantt
1-16-03
Well, I have read some articles and had several experiences this week that make me wonder if anyone really has a clue as to what technology different schools have. It almost makes me think there should have been some Nazi-like ruler demanding each school district order the same equipment for each school, in each district. Then maybe there would have been less "oops, we ordered the wrong thing" and "oh, this training will only help you if you have the software and hardware at your site". I read a great article by Jamie McKenzie titled "Haphazardous Change: Trusting (Foolishly) to Chance and Happenstance". When I finished this article I thought to myself, this is exactly what they have done at the school where I used to teach. We had this huge amount of money given to us for Digital High School and somehow the people in charge did not communicate enough with all the players involved so the school ended up purchasing things people really didn't know what to do with, and can't fix now that they have figured out how to use it.
How do they get it right in the corporate world and we can't find the missing pieces in schools? This is why I go back to my opinion that someone should have decided what hardware and software were needed to be functional and useful, demanded each school be initially set up with these, then let the schools grow where the teachers were moved to grow.
I don't know the right answers but isn't there someone out there with the vision who could share that vision with everyone? Or is it a competition to see which school can be better? Bottom line, why do schools struggle so much when the corporate world could just offer up some practical and great advice to make everything work perfectly.
