Movie Response #5

I found it very difficult to relate to the students that didn't attend Tech High and didn't have much experience using computers growing up. I could not imagine my life without my laptop. I spend most of my time on it, whether I'm typing a paper, checking my e-mail, roaming around aimlessly on Facebook, or just surfing the web in general. I do however realize that the film was made in the 90s and our nation has seen incredible advances in technology, and in turn, computer education at a young age over the past decade or so.

 

I cannot remember a time when I didn't have a computer in my school environment. Even in elementary school we had computers which would assist us in learning math through games or help us learn to type through tutorials. And the computers were never seen as an extra curricular activity. Instead, there were specific time slots utilized where we would sit down and educate ourselves through their persistent use. In retrospect, I can look back and realize how fortunate I was to grow up in the environment I did and can see now how bad it would have been (especially in this world we live in where it's necessary to be technologically informed) to not be exposed to a computer until high school like some of the students in the video.

I think it is a top priority to familiarize children with computers at a very young age because of how necessary they are becoming. I do not however think this is as much a problem today because of how prevalent they seem to be. But speaking strictly through the framework of the video, I think it's very likely that many of the students that went to say Luisa's high school would pursue a career with computers unless they already knew what they were all about. By not exposing them to computers at a young age, the students are intimidated and don't really have any drive to want to learn how to use them later on.

I also want to note that I disagree with the Tech High way of doing things. I think by being so narrow-minded (not having sports, libraries, or extracurriculars of any kind), they are in turn narrowing the minds of their students. They don't know what the students want to do with their lives, and neither do the students most likely. By not having these other options open, they are not allowing the students to make the decisions for themselves regarding what career path to take, and I think that is wrong.