The Evolution Of Technology In Schools

Schools try to keep up with the current technology trends, especially in Silicon Valley, the home of technology innovation. You would think that schools in Silicon Valley would be the most up to date on technology?with the latest computers, projectors, drawing boards?but coming from a first hand perspective, as a student at a local school, it's the complete opposite. I go to a high school where there are no technology classes that even teach students the basics of web development, or video production, or anything of that matter.

Our school just upgraded our computer labs to brand new computers, Windows XP machines, that of course, block Facebook, YouTube, and all those other good "time wasting" sites. Just this year, all the teachers' computers got connected to projectors so that teachers can show presentations, documents, etc. Also this year, our school finally got WiFi, but it is password protected and not open to students.

The restrictions on the use of school computers and the internet, are in my opinion, extreme. Each night all student accessible computers are wiped completely, and restored with all the basic programs ¿ Mozilla Firefox, IE6, Microsoft Office 2003. I understand the need for schools to protect local machines from viruses and spyware, but I feel like school policy is too extreme when it comes to blocking YouTube, Facebook, and other sites. These sites can be "time wasting" sites, but there are occasions when the sites are useful. I was the Technology Editor for my school newspaper last year, where we needed to get pictures and information from fellow students. We used Facebook chat and messages to communicate with other students to get information, to co-ordinate and to find things such as video from events.
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In a neighboring high school, they have a full video production studio for daily video announcements ¿ yet at most other schools, such as my own, we are stuck with old PA systems for announcements and old technology along with a restricted web experience. This is not what the rest of the world would imagine for a school in Silicon Valley. A friend's school in Los Angeles has a full Mac computer lab for video and graphic work. My school ? one Mac, and it's not even allowed to be used by students. Given that in most of the developed world most schools, especially public schools, lag with technology ¿ but it seems that even when there is a will and a budget to implement new technology the policies are still outdated.