Welcome to 2013. Or, as some of the more petulant of us may chose to call it, the year after.
Typically, this statement would lead into a discussion about that unfortunate forecast of cloudy skies with a chance of Armageddon, but veering into that topic could cause an awkwardness, mostly because my assigned topic is not, in fact, the apocalypse that wasn’t.
In the 17 years and four months that I have been repeatedly inhaling and exhaling the more-often-than-not-polluted air of Mother Earth, I have developed many quirks. One of the more relevant oddities of my personality is a pronounced dislike of machinery and personified appliances. So you may imagine my dismay when on August 13, 2012, my sunburned self received a form regarding an absurd practice of further enabling our technology-addicted generation. Most of you will wish to refer to this practice as “Bring Your Own Technology,” BYOT even, if you’re the lazy type.
Call me old-fashioned (I don’t mind), but BYOT really bothers me. I have heard the speeches heralding the glories of modernization and preparation for the future, and yet I have managed to see past the glossy screens into a terrifying reality that is spoon fed by Fayette County’s beloved acronymic twist on the world predicted by Bradbury, Orwell and Vonnegut so many years ago.
(I would like to point out that I am not acting as the hypocrite here: I do not participate in BYOT and my phone is about as fancy as a fork with its prongs welded together. I also do not waste my time with the meaningless pursuits of Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other black holes of social media. Even so, you will never hear me complain of being at a disadvantage to my peers because I do not believe that independence and creativity are signs of neglect.)
Continuing on that insinuation, let me make the statement that rarely does technology foster individualism. Those classes in which students are encouraged to freely refer to their devices for the answers that before would have required actual exertion on the part of their brains have become “plug and chug” classes. Toddlers have been known to operate computers and smart phones. Could they not conceivably also now participate in many classes at McIntosh High School that merely require students to tap a button here and say a command there? What happened to the assertion: “Each student is a valued individual with unique physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs”? (In case you are at a loss to the reference: that is the first line of our school’s mission statement.) Now all are treated as one and the same, and I must say that is not to our benefit.
A visual learner may excel under the tyranny of BYOT, but one who thrives on discussion and freedom is stifled by this new medium of keyboards and cold plastic. Kinetic learners also miss out here because, as I needn’t point out, the virtual world is not actually real.
As a crusader for independence and self-achievement, I wish to point out that the use of personal devices in schools is certainly not helping to curve the shocking growth rate of our generation’s dependence on these compacted robots. Technology is a fickle, fickle friend.
So tomorrow, you may see me sitting in class with a pen in hand, scribbling away in a notebook. And I wouldn’t trade my method for anything else because if civilization ever does fall to pieces, my pen and paper will easily outlast your fashionable new gizmo.
