Robin Talkowski’s Blog: Reading & Technology

My son’s friend attends a private high school.  His schedule for March has been two weeks vacation and two weeks participating in a mini-course entitled, “The System.”  This young man has had the opportunity to attend criminal and civil trials, visit jails and prisons, talk to inmates, and discuss legislation with legislators and criminal justice with police officers and lawyers.  Next week they fly to Washington, D.C.  to visit the Supreme Court and visit Senators and representatives from the House.  Can you imagine a better way to become an informed citizen?  Can you imagine the wealth of knowledge he will bring to his understanding of the Bill of Rights, his interpretation of the impact of our system of checks and balances, and even an essay he may write for college?  The best thing according to this young man was that he did not have to take any notes, read any books, or write an essay or research paper about his experience.  His role was to listen, learn, think, and discuss!

My son attends a very good public school.  He has visited a local prison two times on school field trips.  He has listened to the inmates stories and discussed them in class.  Listening to these inmates’ stories, he has learned how a momentary decision can change your whole life, how drugs have led many down a path they did not intend, and how prison is a place he does not want to end up.  My son’s knowledge of prison life and the importance of good decision making was definitely effected by his experiences.  He can use his expanded knowledge and perspective as he writes an essay or research paper … which he had to do.  Hopefully, the experiences at the prison also impact his personal decisions and decision process.

Both of these experiences had a common purpose:  to understand our system of justice and impact students’ decision making.  Students who participated increased their background knowledge of criminal justice and our society.  However, there are major qualitative differences.  The private high school enabled students to witness and learn about all aspects of “The System” in one intensive two week experience.  The public high school’s field trip enabled students to witness and learn about one aspect of the criminal justice system in a half day.  The private high school wanted students to learn through observation and discussion.  They trusted that students would learn because of their innate curiosity.  The public high school wanted students  to learn through observation, discussion, and writing.

There is no way these two experiences can be made equal.  However, as educators, I believe, there are things we can do to increase our students’ fund of knowledge and experiences.  Technology and the resources they place at our finger tips can play a major role in expanding our students’ worlds.  My next post will expand on some of these ideas.