Digital Natives & The Digital Divide

I do not want to fail my students. I want them all to succeed. The old adage that "all kids can learn" is certainly true, but I do not believe, that under current circumstances and school climates, that all students will.

There is such pressure on students today to succeed in a world that will require more skills than they currently possess. Much of the emphasis has been placed on teachers to make up the gap that is created between educational standards and real-world need.

Many consider an easy fix to our achievement gap to be the use of technology and costly programs geared to "individualized" instruction and "highly engaging" curriculum. As a teacher, I resent the thought that I do not present my students with either engaging or individualized support. That, however, is not the largest issue; technology-based "remedies" are not as practical as one would think.

Students are often referred to as "digital natives" because they have never known a world without quick access to information through the pathways of numerous technological devices. Digital natives are more immersed with technology than previous generations and are more dependent and connected. The highly misguided presumption of the educational mega-companies and cooperatives is that being a digital native and being digitally literate are connected.

Take, for example, those people who grow up in households that speak a language native to their parents, but enter our public schools with no knowledge of how to read or write that language. Rather than being given fundamental language skills, the "primary" or "home" language is not developed enough to enable a student to better adapt their newly acquired "school" language. Following a similar thought process, understanding that technology exists and being able to appropriately employ this technology are two different things. Using the internet and other digital resources is simple enough, but to use these resources accurately and appropriately requires more skill and education. To believe that students will acquire lost knowledge through the use of self-guided educational products seems illogical.

Although being digitally proficient is a dangerous presumption, students do have a higher level of interest when using technology for educational purposes. I would advocate for using educational technology when beneficial, supportive, and for the advancement of knowledge, but to include it within lessons as bells and whistles or to allow students to self-guide themselves through remedial curriculum is unacceptable. Educational technology cannot exist without the education of technology. Twenty-first century learners cannot rely solely on twenty-first century technology, but rather must be taught the valuable thinking skills that will allow them to better navigate the digital world and bridge the divide created by the tumultuous educational climate.