Changes in School

Education has changed throughout time and will continue changing. With many changes for better or for worse, education will still be a priority for our children. After interviewing two teachers that have been in the education workforce for over twenty years, I realized how much change in society has affected the way teachers taught their students. The first teacher I interviewed had been teaching for twenty-five years and is a sixth grade teacher. She noted that any change in our culture has made a difference in her classroom. As part of the changes the role of schools and education will also be different both in the educational system and in the society. Together with them the role of teachers will also change. The way students are learning is changing therefore, the tools to accommodate these demands are changing as well. She commented that technology is now a great part of today’s education. She said its like an “explosion of technology” has hit our generation. Although she says that technology has brought many opportunities it has brought challenges as well. For example, it is an advantage for her to integrate computers in her classroom for learning. But it is a huge distraction when her students have cell phones and music player devices in class. She commented that “children in sixth grade shouldn’t even own cell phones.” They are too young to have cell phones and notices that twenty years ago, her students were not known to have such things. Technology is becoming more and more advanced everyday. Items that are faster and sleeker are replacing items that were once used. The teacher also commented that the role of parents throughout her time in teaching has changed as well. She noticed a change in the amount of parent involvement. She said that parents today are more involved in their child’s education than back then. The second teacher I interviewed, has been teaching for twenty years and is a third grade teacher. She says that the role of teachers in student achievement is critical. Children are not the only ones who must be prepared for change. Teachers must be knowledgeable with any and all changes that occur in our society as well. There have been great educational changes over the past years. There is one role in education that has been forced to keep up with changes brought about by the information age, computers and the changes in society. Before teachers, were the main source of learning and now there are many resources for students to search for answers to their questions. She also says that the number of students and teachers have grown through out her years. During her teaching years she says that parental involvement has generally increased during the last twenty years. And it’s a great factor that has evolved in children’s education. There are also more children with more than one nationality compared to children back then. Yet the world in which our children grow up and go to school has changed immensely. Back then personal computers were expensive, slow and rare. Today, those huge desktops are nearly gone. There were no web browsers and Internet Explorer came later, as did social media, like Google, Facebook and smart phones. We’ve hardly had time to figure out how this explosion of technology affects the way children think and relate to each other. I believe the need of a generation of teachers who aim to develop learners instead of teaching them, who help their students to become independent, who provide students with motivation and interest for life-long learning, is essential in the education of the future. Children today are growing up in a world that has changed significantly over the past twenty years. They are comfortable around technology that they have known all their lives. The changes going on today create an opportunity and a necessity for a transformation in the education system and in the way children are taught. Children must be prepared for a future of continued rapid change.