Movie Response #1

Although the role of technology in the life paths for these individuals played a prominent part, several other equally as significant factors were also large influences. Among others such as local public school quality and available time for the individuals, I believe the greatest of these other factors to be the level of income and available wealth and assets afforded to the families of these individuals. For example, the families for Kep and Travis were able to afford to send their children to New Technology High School which cost them thousands of dollars per year to do so. On the other hand, Luisa came from a lower income family that could not afford to send her to such a prestigeous academy even if she possessed the skill set to succeed there.
I do not believe technology to be an equalizing factor in the wealth discrepancy issue discussed above. In fact I see it to be the opposite, further increasing the gap in available opportunities lended to these differently classed people. At New Technology High, the students have virtually unlimited access to state-of-the-art computers and technology. However, for those such as Luisa who attend urban public schools and are unable to afford the tuition fees at an academy such as New Tech High, they are undoubtedly at a disadvantage in the realm of technology. The public schools cannot afford the same state-of-the-art technology equipment or as much of it either. In regards to wealth and class discrepancies between those featured in this video, we see that technology is far from the solution.
I ulitmately was surprised at the outcomes for a couple of the individuals, but not some others. To learn that Kep graduated from New Tech as its valdedictorian and went on to attend CalTech came as no great shock to me. From the video, it was clear that he was an intelligent, and focused individual who was given a great opportunuity for success by attending New Tech. However, I was slightly surprised to see Luisa fail the photoshop exam that would have landed her a job at a technology firm. From the video it appeared as she was a determined, hard-working individual having worked so hard to save money for her first computer. I'm surprised that she was unable to carry this sort of work ethic over to her pursuit of a technology position.

Movie Response #4

It was very interesting to see the three completely different types of high school.  Starting off with Tech High, I don't really like the idea of being a completely computer and technology-focused high school.  I think the four years of high school are an extremely important part of every person's life, where they can have many different experiences that can help them grow, such as sports games and rallies, dances, and just social events in general.  I don't think a student experiences the entire "high school experience" if they only specialize in technology.  People should get the most out of their four years in college, and then worrying about specializing in a subject in college.   Although this is not to say that information about technology shouldn't be taught at all, just that it shouldn't be the main focus of an entire school.

Luisa's school, Travis HS, was the complete opposite of Tech High.  It was a public school that lacked the funding that Tech High and Cupertino had.  As a result, the resources where not very great, and it was amazing to see how many of the students had never worked with a computer, since I've been working with computers since the beginning of grade school.  Unfortunately, I don't think this high school will be able to catch up to Tech High or Cupertino since they just don't have the funding necessary.

The high school in Cupertino was the high school in between.  It wasn't nearly as extreme as Tech High, but since it had more funding than Travis High, it had more resources and therefore more opportunities for use of better technologies.  This school was also the more "normal" school when it came to the sporting and social aspects.

I think it was very interesting to see three completely different high schools and how the high school's resources had such an effect on the students' learning.  I think that Tech High is a little too extreme, but that Travis HS is unfortunately a little too unfunded.  I saw Cupertino as a better middle ground.

Movie Response #4

None of these schools seem successful compared to other government schools.

Travis HS in Austin is a typical example of a school that has failed, and why the current "public" school system in the entire nation needs to be completely reconsidered.  Should a government bureaucrat decide where our children should learn? What they learn? When they get up in the morning? How much should they learn? Freedom is what made America the greatest nation on earth and we do not have much educational freedom left.

New Technology HS is a very gross place.  Learning how to use computers is worthy of maybe 1 hour out of the school day.  But as humans, there are other skills of more importance.  Speaking and handwriting cannot be forgotten.  Most importantly are hands-on skills: the ability to fix things, start a campfire, sow/stich, disecting plants and animals, make a simple electromagnet, cut wood, navigate through nature, etc.  No person is complete without skills like these, yet most people today probably cannot perform many of them.

Cupertino was less extreme than New Technology High, but whether it was a success or not is difficult to say.  It was in a rich community, so it had more funding than the other schools.  But could a private school with that funding do better? Probably yes, if history tells us anything.

Wildcard

In the movie they addressed 4 very different students with 4 very different backgrounds and compared their technology experiences in high school.  The skills that each of them obtained are very valuable in the workforce today, but some more than others.  The two students who went to Tech High School in California both ended up in very different situations after graduation.  In one sense, Tech High could have been beneficial, in the other it could have prevented opportunities.  Travis, who barely graduated from Tech High, decided to get a job right away in order to support his family, so how did Tech High benefit him?  I'm assuming a high school such as that costs more, yet now he is unable to further his tech education due to the fact that he needs to simply take whatever job he can and make money.  His training in a specific area of study is not a bad thing, yet how much of his technology education will he use in the basic workforce he is forced to enter?  

On the other hand, Kep (the valedictorian) earned a scholarship to CalTech, where he will go into engineering.  In his case, Tech High could have quite possibly given him the edge he needed to obtain that scholarship to a prestigious school over other students from regular schools.  I would assume a student who graduated from a Tech High School wold have an advantage over those from average high schools when applying to a school such as CalTech..yet he is missing out on certain clubs and activities that normal schools offer.  UW Madison is an excellent example of a univeristy looking for students with diverse backgrounds who were in a variety of activities within their school and their community.  I can't imagine there were that many diverse programs within Tech High.

Overall, in my opinion, my public high school provided the equipment and the teachers necessary for me to have an average if not somewhat competitive background in technology.  I know this is not the case for all schools, but I feel that my high school technology background was not as intense as Tech High, but the other skills I gained from the wide range of classes I took and the clubs I participated in, along with my average adequacy in technology, has definitely made me a well-rounded student who could hold her own in a variety of fields in the workforce, instead of one specific area (like the students in Tech High).  I believe that the ability to work in a variety of positions along with some technological competency will go a long way in the work force, no matter the state of the economy or what types of jobs are being offered.

Wildcard

5. Wildcard: For this prompt, come up with a response addressing moments that resonated strongly with you in the film (refer to your notes). Consider relating what you saw to your own high school experience. Did things look familiar? Radically different? Naively outdated? For me, Tech High School really captured my attention. I found the setup of the classes and school to be excellent opportunities for the students to stay up to date with technology and learn numerous skills. They were challenged in different ways to work collaboratively to create projects. I thought this was an excellent way for the kids to learn and to prepare them for careers after high school. All this said, this school is only for those students that going into technology professions. Also, it seemed as though the students were missing out on other key apects of an education, math, history, science, etc..

This school was extremely different from the high school I went to. My high school had sufficient technology for the students to use, but not to the extent of Tech High. My school also had a library and football team. Which I feel, are important to have in an education environment. Having a library creates an environment conducive for studying, reading, and a librarian to assist with the things you need. Though they felt having the internet was sufficient to provide the reading materials, there are some areas that technology can't meet.

I do feel that Tech High is fullfilling its purpose in giving kids an excellent environment and access to technology. When evaluating anything, it is important to not overlook the purpose that the thing is trying to fulfill. And Tech High is serving a technology purpose and for that reason, it is an excellent opportunity. I was also amazed at how the school appeared to work with other schools and agencies to give the students a jumpstart into their future.

Movie Response

I chose question 4 to answer: Think about the students' school environments and other environments (e.g. family, work, friends) surrounding them. What did you think of the approaches to technology in the three different school environments (Austin, Texas, Cupertino, California and Tech High in California)? Do you think any of the models are more successful than others at their mission? Is Tech High, without a football team and a library, the way of the future or an experiment likely to fail? Could a school like Luisa's in Austin ever catch up with others showcased? Give your opinion.

Environment is one of the most important things to the development of young people. And a very important aspect of the environment is for it to be balanced so the adolescent can get exposed to a wide variety of things in their life. This balance extends of course to school as well. A school must have a variety of things to offer for its students so that the students can pick what they want to do and experience everything a school has to offer. Tech High in California does not offer this balance at all.

I think its great that it is so technically integrated, and i think it would be great for all schools to have as much technology as they do, for technology is the present and the future, whether we like it or not. A good grasp of technology will soon be a requirement for almost every job on the market, if it isn't so already. But I still feel that a high school specifically devoted to technology and nothing else will fail utterly. I know that i would never willingly go to a school that didn't offer sports, libraries, books, extracurriculars or basically anything that makes high school fun. High school isn't just about preparing yourself academically for college and the world beyond, its about experiencing as much as you can from a wide variety of sources and for growing as a person and forming relationships outside of the class room and gaining life skills that classes cannot teach you. I hope to god that this school isn't the way of the future, or else our upcoming youth will be extremely smart and technologically savvy but also socially inept, out of shape and not well rounded in the least.

Wildcard Response

When watching the film "Crossing the Divide", I did not see my high school belonging to any of the three high schools in the film. At William B. Travis High School, I was surprised to see that computers, something I am sure most of us take for granted, could have such a huge affect on students and what they do outside of the school day. I have been using computers for as long as I can remember, so I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like not even being exposed to one until my high school years. At my high school, we not only had multiple computer labs and mobile labs, but we also had classes we could take for credit that would allow us to become more proficient at using certain programs on the computer.

When watching the segment about New Technology High School, I honestly did not like the concept of the way that the school was set up. I think that it is a cool idea to have a school that is based of off using computers, however, I believe it is important to have some traditional high school courses as well since they will need those to prepare for the real world. Also, I think that having after-school clubs and sports are an important part of high school that everyone should have the chance to experience. By having a traditional high school experience, I believe that it helped to better prepare me for college.

prompt 4

I did not see any of the 3 schools as being as successful as a regular high school, or at least high schools that I am used to. But of the 3 I think Cupertino was the most successful. This school was in the center of a very wealthy community and because of this it was able to provide the latest technology for its students. One of the problems with Cupertino was that it did spend so much money on technology that it lacked in other areas like teachers and the other departments of the school. I find this to be a big problem, especially having inadequate teachers. While technology is great, you cannot learn anything from it if you do not have the proper instruction. There are also many other areas in school that deserve just as much attention as technology. For example, students in Cupertino were very comfortable on the computer, but they lacked skills and knowledge in English.

To me a high school should be a welcoming place and somewhere that student can feel safe. This was one of the major downfalls with the school in Texas. This school was filled with gangs and there was graffiti all over. Trying to learn in this kind of environment would be very stressful and much more difficult, and it shows by the extremely high drop out rate. As for technology, most of these kids never have a chance to work on a computer until they are in 12th grade. I cannot even remember when i first used a computer, but to not have access to that technology until you are a senior in high school would put you at a huge disadvantage. By the time you learned how to use a computer and even type on it, it would be time for college and that person would not have the capability to keep up with and compete with other college students.

Tech High was certainly an extreme example of a technology based high school. I do find that kind of a school to be successful in producing well-rounded students. Acquiring technological skills is only one of the many important areas of high school. By sitting in front of a computer all day how can you learn math or do lab experiments in science class? The biggest concern in my mind is that Tech High offers no extra curricular activities. Besides the fact of kids losing the opportunity to play sports or an instrument, they miss the opportunity to participate in social activities with their peers. There is more to high school than learning stuff out of a book (or off a computer screen). It is also an important time for students to mature socially and gain the people skills they will need to survive when they get out of school.

Movie Response - Wildcard

What really resonated with me in this video was how well both the students and the professionals each addressed the fact that the economy in America is changing and that a new workforce is developing. It is very true what they said – that those who do not have the skills and knowledge about new technology will be left behind in the workforce. Technology really is, as the video stated, “the gateway to the new economy,” and when individuals do not have access to that technology, they are automatically limited to the number and types of jobs they can carry.

In terms of the digital divide, many people who are born into low-income and/or minority families do not have access to computers and other technology that are needed to gain the skills and knowledge for certain types of jobs in our new electronic world. Not only is the younger generation in general having to compete with each other in this new economy, but also those who do not have the availability to attain the necessary skills and knowledge do not have the option to get ahead or even in line with their peers. There is an enormous need for these new skills to be learned in order to hold new jobs that technology is creating. The pressure for the younger generation to stay current and ahead of the trends is not equally distributed throughout the population because of the unfortunate lack of access to certain people. As the video said, “computers can change the lives of inner-city children.”

These new high schools specifically designed for teaching technology are able to help give minorities and low-income students a profound and immediate impact in their world of computers and technology. It gives them expertise, and it also changes their attitudes towards computers and technology in general. While cost is always an issue for schools like these to even begin, the benefits for those who would not have otherwise attained these new skills completely makes up for it, especially in their eyes.

- Valerie Figlmiller

Crossing The Divide Response

Luisa certainly had a few things that held her back such as her financial situation and her full time job. Technology helped her in that it prevented her from being in gangs at her school and provided her with a way to help her family, but I was surprised to find out she failed the photoshop exam. It was not surprising to find out that Cedra ended up becoming successful because she entered the scene already financially well off and technologically competent and didn't have the struggles that Luisa had to deal with.
Travis had a lot going on in his life just as Luisa did. He had to be the "man of the house" and was living with a family that had to support 8 people. Technology helped him a great deal because he was able to ignore the stereotypes and become a computer savvy student and, surprisingly, graduates after a senior project meltdown.
Kep had the most interesting story because he was an immigrant who had to learn many languages to help get by and support his family. Technology helped him as well because he was able to interact with people who shared the same passion for technology as he had and was able to integrate himself better into society.