PLN 11: Kids Prefer Reading Online

In the article, "Kids Prefer Reading Online…", by Will Richardson what matters is taking the best standpoint on what to do with the new importance of learning technology, and how it should be used, particularly with online reading. The article discusses the pros and cons of having students read online, and the debate on whether that should be “taught” in school.
The first point that was brought up was that of how students standardized test scores have been decreasing as the use of the internet has been increasing. There are some parents who think that there child is spending too much time on the computer, which in turn is causing them to spend less and less, time reading and writing, which in effect has decreased their grades in school. As pointed out, these parents are against incorporating the internet any further into education. They are the people that would like to stick to traditional pencil and paper, plain old textbooks.
There are also the people who are for incorporating more technology into education, especially for online reading because they say that it is better is their child is reading on the computer rather than watching TV or doing other ineffective/lazy things. They think that in turn, technology could help students focus more on education, and could help raise test scores because their students are actually learning in their free time, instead of just lying around at home.
I, of course, have to put my two cents into the matter. I think that education should be incorporated into education to a certain extent. I enjoy the freedom of having an assignment that allows you to explore, and you are not confined to the same textbook that everyone else has. When all our assignments aren’t the same, for example our PLNs, where we can write about any article, not just one, we have the freedom to pick and choose what articles we want to read and write about. As the world is advancing in technology, and as our generation grows up living in a world in technology, it is extremely important that we know how to use technology, and that we are, in a sense, educated by technology. I really like the quote of one woman in the article, who said, “Nobody has taught a single kid to text message. Kids are smart. When they want to do something, schools don’t have to get involved.” I think that explains my perspective on the matter as well. Since we have grown up in a world with technology, we know more how to use it than our grandparents know. It is time that we start to incorporate that knowledge into our education, but we need not forget the traditional ways of read and writing, because those will still be on tests such as SATs and ACTs. I agree that we could do more work on the computer with the current technology, and I like that we have the option to be in laptop classes for classes such as English. We could learn a lot online, but we need to know where the line is that says where we are using technology to our benefit vs. letting it take control of our whole education.
The debate is still in the air about whether technology should be used as an online reading source. There are pros and cons to both sides, but eventually, we must face that the world will be come an almost entirely technology world, so why don’t we allow it to be used in our every day education?