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.