Movie response

The four kids situations varied differently in the "Crossing the Divide" movie we saw. In discussion, we mentioned the 3 industrial revolutions: one of the early 18th century which incorporated the ideas of manifest destiny, and making communication / transportation easy to the west; the industrial revolution of the 19th century which is the typical migration to a factory from the workshop, and then lastly the revolution of the 20th century where transistors were incorporated into daily technology.
It is my view that as we are consistently changing from one "revolution" to another, that your family circumstances can significantly alter what portion of which revolution you are experiencing. As mentioned in class, most of our great grandparents or grandparents probably worked / work in a factory. The stigma is that grandparents are not likely as coherent with computer usage as the younger generation.
I think that if your parents are in a job where they are still in the 2nd revolution (in a factory job or similar) that you are much less likely to have the knowledge of latest revolution. This is directly tied to the fact that the cutting edge technologies (due to supply / demand) are more valuable and thus pay more. Because one's parents are paid more / are using new technology, it is more likely that your exposure would be greater.

I think that this idea relates to Cedra (who went to a public school but had family technological knowledge from her journalist father) vs. Luisa (who needed to work a lot of hours to save up enough money to then buy herself exposure to a computer when her mother didn't have a job where she used / could afford computers).

Family also influenced Travis significantly. His role as a main supporter for the family meant that education could not be the prime focus of his school years. It further affected him because he needed to work to help support the family and didn't have money for college.

Response 4

In a high school environment, there's more to it than simply receiving a high school diploma.  You learn how to socially communicate between peers and elders, you learn how to prepare for college, and most importantly, you get prepared for the real world.  However, when schools are only teaching you certain skills, teenagers miss out on what it's like to be a teenager.  There re no football games, or dances, or clubs at some of these schools.  The schools in Texas and California have completely different goals and the environment plays a big role in them.

All the schools incorporated technology to some degree, giving the students access to the world. However, when Tech High just prepared students via computer skills, it might affect the jobs they might want to someday obtain. Travis and Kep are very intelligent individuals, but what happens when they don't want to work with computers anymore?  That's all they know how to do because that's all they were taught, core class like science and english were never given to them.  There are hundreds of jobs, and competition is on the rise.  You need to know more than computer skills to succeed.  However, Travis and Kep have an overall advantage because they are very familiar with technology, giving them a step up above someone who never had the opportunity to come in contact with computers. 

I feel like it's a catch 22. With public schools, not everyone is given individual attention on technology.  But they are given many different skills to succeed in life.  With schools like tech high, they are given many technological opportunities, but are they missing out on common knowledge? 

Movie Response #4

The three different school environments were a bit of a surprise to me because they were definately very different from other typical high schools. I feel that the two Tech schools do a good job of preparing the students for their careers, but I do not believe that that is what is important in high school. In William B. Travis High School in Texas, they wanted to help the students out by finding a passion and something to be interested in, with the focus primarily on computers. They did this by creating a multimedia class. This is a good way for the students to learn the computer and internet skills they might need later in life. On the other hand, when schools, like Tech High, only serve one purpose- in trying to prepare the students for their career, the students are then missing out on everything else in high school.

When the educational psychologist had talked in the movie, she said, "it is not about making a living, but about making a life." I feel that that statement sums it up. Students that are in high school should be developing academic AND social intelligence. They need to be well-rounded students, not just skilled in one particular area- computers. I feel that all of the fun events and activities, such as dances and football games, are extremely important in helping each student develop their LIFE and personality, not just skills needed in career, becuase our lives are so much more than just our job.

I feel that Tech High's business school environment is not the way of the future, becuase it is leaving out so much that students should be learning and experiencing as a young adult. I'm not saying that the preparation for a career is not important, but rather that there is a place and time for everything. There could be separate courses and places, such as the Urban League shown in the video, where students can learn these technology skills, but I don't feel that it is necessary and healthy to teach the kids ONLY what they should know for their career.