Learning Curve.

I've grown up with the internet. Not so much in the "digital native" kind of way, but more like I'm the internet's little brother. I was at the very tail end of the "televisions without remotes" era of American history so I didn't have a home PC until about the 7th grade. I can remember wanting to stay inside from recess in the sixth to get on the internet. Those days are LONG gone now. I actually had a class on how to navigate the internet and sending emails when I was in junior high. Oh Netscape, how awesome I thought you were back then. Everyone thought they were cool because they had a hotmail.com account. I made my own webpages and hosted them on geocities.

As you can see, I actually HAVE grown up WITH the internet. I've watched it turn from a scary thing into something everyone used and then into a tool. Something people used on a daily basis.

I remember back when I was in the sixth grade and our school was trying to get a levy passed so they could "update" their text books. There was a big board meeting held at the high school and people came to have a forum. People didn't understand why the school should invest in computers instead of text books. Obviously text books are important, but at that point there was a single text book for every three students in a class on average. My school was poor, I know. Leave me alone. If they invested that money into a single computer and a printer, they would have saved money. That was even back then. Computers are ten times cheaper now. You can get dial-up (yuck) internet for $7.99/mo. if you want it. Thinking about that for a second. I can remember when dial-up was fast. sheesh.

Overall, I like the way technology and education have gone hand in hand. Sure things like l33t spe4k or whatever it is causes people to frown some, but it's classes like this one that are a positive example.