Week 2 Reflection post

     I believe Erikson would very much argue that changing technology would change the dynamics of being an adolescent. I think he makes a clear case for this and warns against us not paying enough attention to these changes. As we discussed in class, education has failed to adapt to the modern age,. Instead, we are relying on our methods of the past that do not coincide with the present or the future. However, I am not sure that we have a full grasp of what needs to be done.

     I feel as though my experience as an adolescent is already significantly different from those of youth today. I was an adolescent when social media was still a developing thing, before every student got a laptop in school, and before the invention of the smartphone. These things were still in their infancy during my adolescent years and it wasn't until after I graduated HS that I realized how much it was becoming an integral part of adolescent life. I used to be in shock hearing that my friends' siblings received i-pads or laptops from their school. I have no doubt that this has changed the dynamics of schools and saw through my observations at a regular high school and a school for special needs students just how much technology has integrated itself into their daily life. Sometimes I saw it used for good, other times I felt like it was too pervasive.

     Within the American context, I believe our education system requires a huge overhaul, not just with teachers, but our fundamental educational practices. From curriculum, to administration, to the way we train and treat our teachers, to funding, etc. The current educational climate, in my view, does not adequately prepare our youth to find their place in the global economy. Part of this is because of the sociopolitical aspects of the U.S., but there are still many practices we can learn from our neighbors across the pond.  The fact of the matter is that teachers are not the only ones to blame nor are the only reason for our inability to evolve our education system. It is fundamentally flawed, bogged down by some of these sociopolitical issues which keep it disjointed and non-cohesive. At the end of it all, the student suffers, as does the future of the nation.


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