Schools are different nowadays compared to back then. The majority of schools use technology significantly more than traditional resources. Yet lots of teachers claim they want traditional tools to be the main resource. We interviewed teachers and students at our school to get their opinions.
We started by interviewing Sergeant Carney. He prefers the digital method because he thinks “it makes it faster and easier.” When asked if he thinks students’ attention is taken by Chromebooks, he believes that other than them playing games, it’s great technology to use to do classwork. Sergeant also thinks Google Classroom is easier, especially Google Forms, since the form automatically grades. However, if he were to be a teen again, he would still prefer tradition because he believes that “technology has taken away the social aspect in people’s social relationships.” He claims he felt closer to people back then due to more face-to-face interactions. Experts agree, claiming that having constant access to the internet and technology prevents people from making personal connections.
We next interviewed Mr. Kaliponi. He prefers doing things digitally and thinks Chromebooks take away students’ attention, yet he claims, “I think the positives outweigh the negatives.” Mr. Kaliponi says that Aeries is easier to handle tasks on, rather than paper. We asked if he ever thought technology would be used this much, and his response was “When I was in high school no, computers were just coming out, I was doing typing classes, you know so… now it dominates everything that we do.” He told us that he thinks technology made life more complex and challenging for students, and that life was simpler back then.
We found Rodney Davis, a coach here at Buena Park High School, roaming the halls and we decided to interview him. He was asked if he prefers traditional or digital, and he responded by saying “Traditional. I still handwrite every day.” When he was in school, he did not think technology would be used this much or come this far this fast. He would rather record things on paper because “When you use your hand to write, your mind remembers it better but, when you’re just using keys and touch, it doesn’t remember it well.” He would prefer being in school back in the day compared to now because he loved the music, cars, and how simple things were. Indeed, a study shows that doing things by hand betters your memory and learning skills.
We then intereiwied a student, Kaden Lee. He prefers doing things the digital way because it’s much easier and has more access to classes and go over the lectures and learn about stuff on the internet. He claims that he sees students watching YouTube and playing games, so he believes Chromebooks often take attention away from people. He would prefer his report cards to come in the mail and online, because some people don’t have phones, or others can’t receive mail. If he had the choice to be in school back in the day, or now, he would choose now, with all the technology.
Next, we interviewed Mr. Farmer. He never thought about technology being this used when he was in school since computers and phones were not invented while he was in school.He would prefer being in school back in the day because “I think that what teens have in school right now is far more difficult to deal with than what we had when I was in school. I think it was easier to be a teen and a kid when I was a teen.” He prefers traditional because he finds a lot of things easier to do over the digital way, though some of the digital things are easy for him to adapt to. He doesn’t think students’ attention is taken by Chromebooks.
Finally, we interviewed Colonel Miller. He thinks Chromebooks take away students’ attention unless closely monitored. He thinks it’s easier to grade and keep track of things on Google Classroom rather than on paper. We asked if he prefers traditional or digital, and he told us he is fine doing things in both ways but is more familiar with the traditional way. We asked if he was a teen again would he prefer being in school back then, or now. His response was “Oh I think i’d it now, I mean, you guys have a lot more resources at your disposal, you can learn a lot faster, the internet wasn’t even around when I was in school so, you can get access to information so much more quickly.”
It seems that traditional is more wanted by the teachers, but digital is more wanted by the students. This is a bit obvious since teachers knew what school was like back then, and didnt experience it now. The same goes for students, they are experiencing a school with mainly digital stuff, not back then, with all oldschool stuff.
