By Mary J. Howard | Published Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bridgeport ISD places two important issues in the hands of voters Nov. 3. While I was on the facilities committee and support proposition 1, most of us can readily see why we need classrooms and the importance of maintaining facilities.
I'd like to address proposition 2, which provides for increased technology for students and staff alike. We all know that technology changes so rapidly we can hardly blink without hearing of new equipment, or some new skill, or a new piece of software that is needed - just to stay current. It is no different in the world of education. We provide them with Web sites, software and computers, but that is not enough. Our students learn at different skill levels, in different ways and in more than one language. These funds will provide skills, not "stuff."
Students face a true digital divide, where some have better computers at home than we can ever provide, while others have nothing at all. Every student deserves to learn with the same tools. Textbooks now come with CDs, DVDs and Web sites. The state assures us that textbooks will soon be online instead of in print.
Proposition 2 gives every student the equipment needed as a learner in the 21st century. What makes our students different from us as learners? Podcasts show our auto trades students how to do repairs, our biology students how to dissect a frog and our elementary students how a chrysalis becomes a butterfly.
Once they have seen it, they can blog or post comments to a wiki (online journal), e-mail to ask questions and help each other learn across the country or even the world. Our students will need those skills in their future.
Students can only learn such skills with a computer. Proposition 2 makes a computer available to every student in grades 6-12 and provides for 'buddy use' of computers for all K-5 students.
I graduated from BHS when the current middle school was the 'new campus' with gadgets galore. We had two TVs in the auditorium and watched fascinated as America faced off in a space race with Russia. Oh, and microwave ovens in the home economics lab, cooking things in just minutes? Am I mixing ancient history with a bond issue? Yes, because our students deserve what they need to be successful, just as Bridgeport has always provided the things students need to succeed. Things that were novelties then are common now. Technology is the future of our students. Give them the tools they need to succeed by supporting the bond issue.
