פיש כותב שעוד בשנת 1999 במחוז שבו הוא עובד במדינת קולורדו התחילו לדבר ברצינות על מחשב נייד לכל תלמיד. באותה תקופה העלויות היו גבוהות מדי והתשתיות לא היו מספיק מפותחות, אבל הוא מוסיף שעם השנים:
more and more folks were convinced that laptops would not only be helpful for students, but essential to their learning process
These weren’t purchased because we’ve finally decided that laptops are important enough instructionally for our students to provide them, we’re receiving them due to mandated state testing. Because both the PARCC and the CMAS tests are taken via computer, and because we can’t sufficiently lock down the netbooks we had previously, the district decided to replace them with Chromebooks – and, of course, we had to add significantly more in order to test all of our students. After sixteen years of not being willing to spend money to support our students instructionally, we are willing (actually, forced) to spend money to support testing. Our Superintendent told us in a faculty meeting that district-wide more than $1 million dollars was being spent to purchase Chromebooks.
I still think it’s important to note the priorities of our national and state leaders, and what actually makes school districts spend money they otherwise wouldn’t.
The best (and most recent) gift to the hardware and software industry has been the Common Core standards and assessments. At a time of fiscal retrenchment in school districts across the country when schools are being closed and teachers are let go, many districts have found the funds to go on shopping sprees to get ready for the Common Core.And here is the point that I want to make. The old reasons for buying technology have been shunted aside for a sparkling new one.
Since we have so many of our own students bringing their own devices, much of this $1 million will end up sitting most of the time in carts, unused (once we’ve rolled out Connected Learners to all four grades). So I wonder what else we could’ve spent $1 million on? I’m sure we could all come up with lots of ideas, but here’s one pretty simple one: let’s hire more teachers.
וכך קורה שמורה שבמשך שנים פעל לרכישת יותר מחשבים לכיתות מוצא את עצמו מתנגד למהלך הזה כאשר הוא סוף-סוף מתבצע. הקואליציה של התקשוב החינוכי כנראה באמת מתפרקת, וזה קורה מפני שכאשר המחשבים מגיעים לכיתות ההבדלים בתפיסות החינוכיות מתחדדים עד שכבר אי אפשר להתעלם מהם. פיש נאלץ לבחור בין הטכנולוגיה לבין החינוך, וברור לו במה הוא בוחר.