Ensuring Equality of Educational Opportunity in the Digital Age

Providing all students with an equal education and opportunities is very important. All students should be treated equally and school needs to be the place where they feel equal to others in society. Even though every child comes from a different background they can learn a great deal of useful information and skills through school. Technology is rapidly growing and will be the “key” to life and success in the close future. Every school no matter social or economical standing needs to have and provide children with an equal education as other schools. Children need to learn how to use technology in school because that is what will give them the skills to be a productive member of society. Children come to school to learn life skills and learn the information they need to be successful in life and without including technology into public education we will not be providing children with all the information they need to know in the “real world”.
The article goes into depth about the digital divide and equality. When this article was discussing about how important it is to look at software and determine if it's appropriate for children, it sparked a personal experience. When I was talking to a first grade student he was explaining to me about the "fighting" game he played over the weekend with his older brother. His story made me think about this article and what the author is trying to make schools aware of. Children gain mass amounts of information about stereotypes in games. They get images of what men and women look like as well as what its okay for kids to do. All children need to have experience with computers and school is where many kids get experience. Not everyone comes from a family or social class that can afford the new and updated technology devices but children need to know how to use these devices our society places such high values on. Technology is used more and more in everyday life situations and without the knowledge to use the computer and other daily technology devices there will be many lost individuals in our society that won’t have the knowledge and computer friendly ability to get even basic jobs. No matter a child’s race, social standing, and/or background every child has the right to learn basic technology skills at school. Computers and technology can be integrated into current curriculum and doesn’t have to be added as an additional subject area. Computers offer an infinite amount of teaching opportunities and can be integrated into every subject. Students need to learn technology skills in order to be productive full citizens in our society and world as a whole. It is important to understand the importance of computers in our world and we as teachers need to realize the importance in integrating technology into our curriculum. As teachers we need to provide equal opportunities for all students to learn these important technology life skills. Every child has the opportunity to be treated equally and given the same education no matter what school they attend.