Chapter 7: What May Be Lost and What May Be Gained

This chapter discusses how that this change in education change is not only affecting the lives of students, but of the society as well. It also goes into depth on the losses and gains of this educational revolution. I am going to discuss some of the gains and the losses as well how this is going to affect my future as an educator. One of things that may be lost is the hope that we can create a society where we have similar values, and where cultures are widely accepted. There is a concern that the divide between cultures will grow, and that society will break apart. Another one of the main losses is that the access to learning, and how this gap is going to increase. People who are not wealthy and able to purchase these new technologies will most likely be left behind. Students of wealthy parents are more likely to get their children more private lessons to get their child ahead in school. There is also a fear that the liberal arts program is going to become more focused on the individual. When students focus on only what they are interested in, they miss out on the general knowledge that is so important in being a informed person. I personally thing it is very important to make sure that students get a broad range of knowledge through schooling while they can still focus on things that they enjoy. One last concern is that people will become socially isolated from just sitting in front of the computer, and not getting to social interaction that is so important.
One of the gains that I found to be very interesting is that knowledge will become more engaging, as students can focus more on things that they enjoy to learn about. When something interests a student, they will be more likely to put more work into their schooling and really put their time into it. I think this is a good idea, as long as generalized aspects are added to it. Technology is also capable of customizing education to the needs of everyone. They can be in any environment and work at the level that is necessary to their success. Also their is hope that the academic competitiveness between students will decrease because they will most likely succeed better at things that they want to learn about! Learning is also becoming more of a family together, which can bring families closer!
I can see both sides of the issue, and think that some of  both will be important in my future as an educator. I think that it is very important to give my students academic choice with their assignments. I also think that is is very important to teach general, lifelong ideas that can help all of my students despite what profession they are going into. I also want to stress the importance of understanding each other culturally and personally. I think all of these ideas need to be kept in mind when I am teaching my future students!