2nd book club meeting / The Underground History of American Education


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 During the 2nd book club meeting of The Underground History of American Education by John Gatto was interesting. The class discussed on how much we rely on technology and the pros and cons of it. Will computers replace teachers or professors in the future? Technology can be a good thing and a bad thing. Everything we do now such as applying to jobs, schools, work requires technology. For example, Professors at NJCU depend on technology to use blackboard or send emails to students. Projects for school or jobs require PowerPoint and applying to jobs and doing research is all online. As we pass by a library we don’t see as much people as we used to see back in the day. Technology can be a good thing because we learn to be computer savvy. Children learn through apps on the phone such as shapes, color, matching, etc. There is a certain point where technology may take over children's lives, but it all depends on the parent. Back in the day everyone would be outside at the park riding bikes, but majority of kids today are stuck on their phone or iPad.
Professor Gato has been a teacher for many years and made a statement that people may or may not agree with. “Some other significant differences between libraries and schools: the librarian lets me ask my own questions and helps me when I want help, not when she decides I need it. The library never humiliates me by posting ranked lists of good readers. One of the strangest differences between a library and a school is that you almost never see a kid behaving badly in a library.” This can also be a controversey towards teachers. In a teacher's perspective they might think this statement is absurd, but for others this might make sense.



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