PLN 11: 2020 Vision

In “2020 Vision” by Karl Fisch, it addresses our technology and how much it will change in the future.  He makes predictions like the merging of companies and a single Arapahoe high/college.  He also thinks technology will continue to increase until almost everyone in the world owns their own laptop.  I think he did a great job with the presentation of this video.  From a philosopher's point of view Karl asked a lot of great questions about our future.

This affects the world around because we will likely live through 2020 and some of his predictions could come true.  This effects our education because if technology really gets that much better we could all be using laptops as an incredible learning tool in the future.

PlN 12

In the blog post ”You Know This is True” by Will Richardson he talks about how we are becoming less and less prepared for the tests in school.  Schools are reducing the pressure on kids’ testing and this is causing them to become worse at it.  Parents are also not helping very much because they are focusing more on what their kid is learning  instead of how well they do on tests.

This effects education because testing is a big part of education.  Without tests we would never know we needed to improve something.  This effects the world around me because I have to take the tests and be well prepared for them.  Dr. James G. Bilkey once said "You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life.”  With this said we need the system to continue to help us by putting pressure on our testing.

PLN 10: "Third Grade is the New Cut Sport"

In the blog post “Third Grade is the New Cut Sport” by Anne Smith she talks about how some people are being exclusive in activities for kids as young as the third grade. She got the idea to write this post when her daughter came home disappointed that she didn’t get a speaking part in a class play after trying out for over 10 parts in the third grade production. A quote taken from her post states “In an era where we can’t get kids to participate in many activities, why are we cutting kids out of opportunities they want to succeed at?” I think this summed up the entire post. It is very disappointing that our society has become so competitive that we denied a little girl a part she wanted in a third grade play. A question in the post that really added to the argument was “At what point did we decide that 8 year olds don’t get to do something creative and important to them?”
This affects education because it has been more and more of a problem to get kids to participate in class and other activities. If we aren’t giving kids opportunities will they ever feel reach their potential? This affects the world around us because we all want to be a part of something and we need the chance to do it.