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Not even a calculator? Now that's Old School!

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Not even a calculator? Now that's Old School!

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My stepdad Kristen was born in England in in 1972 and went to school in an impoverished area until University. When asked what technology they had available at the time he said, "a ruler and pencil, we weren't even allowed to use calculators". However, he said that as a kid he didn't feel like he really needed anything else. At home he had a portable cassette and a stereo, there was a tv in the living room and "eventually we had a microwave in the kitchen".

As kids some of them had landlines but they didn't use them very often because even local calls cost money. You would just go up to someone's house and knock to see if they were home or usually just plan ahead and meet at certain locations.

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His mum bought him his first computer when he was a teenager and it was an Amstrad cpc464 which needed to have it's data stored on an audio cassette. He didn't get his first phone until he was 28 and says, "I could text and sent a crappy photo".

Once he went to university in 1996 the internet became very important in order to do research. But the connection was very slow because it was a dial up. He said, "I remember being excited about having so much easily accessible information".

Hearing his perspective not only from a different time but from a different country was really fascinating and it seems that he had even less access to technology than maybe some people from his generation growing up. He appreciates the access to knowledge but doesn't seem to feel like he missed out in school when he was young.

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I asked my mom, Hiliary (Born 1979), what technology she had available in school and she responded, "a calculator and that's about it". She said that she learned how to type in high school but nobody actually had computers at home and they didn't use them in school. When they had to write essays it was all by hand or sometimes on a typewriter. I don't know about you but I would get serious hand cramps if I had to physically write an entire essay!

I followed up and said that technology doesn't always have to mean computers. She thought about it and mentioned, "well we did use the Dewey decimal system, all on cards by the way. We also had encyclopedias which is sort of the original format of the internet!" Then she laughed.

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She continued to say that they used microscopes in science class and that was a very useful tool for learning.

She said that she got her first phone when she was 17 from her dad and it had 25 minutes a month, "I felt so cool!". She got her first at home computer when I was a baby which would've been 2001-2003 because she needed it for work as a transcriptionist.

I think my mom's relationship with technology and school is really interesting because she had more of the typcial American education experience and was almost an adult by the time phones and computers were becoming main stream. Now she uses technology all the time for work and is a pro at it :)

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My brother Jeremy was born in 2000 one year before me but he was 2 grades ahead of me and went to a different High School. I asked him how he felt about technology in school and he said that in his junior year in high school everyone was given personal laptops so that the kids who couldn't afford them would still be able to do their homework at home. This makes sense to me because at the time a lot of schools in Mesa were becoming 1:1 in order to close the homework gap. However, Jeremy said that it was actually pretty stressful at the time because their was such a huge emphasis on the fact that if you lost or broke it you would have to pay for it, "it felt like a huge responsibility and a lot of pressure".

Another aspect that Jeremy talked about was the fact that he's not sure if having the laptops really added to the learning experience. "I think they offered more a distraction than really a help for students while in school. I don't think personal screens can really enhance the learning experience".

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However a piece of technology that Jeremy did think really enhanced the learning experience was the overhead projectors that were used when he was in elementary school. He said, "that made the teaching feel more personal" because every student could see what the teacher was working on.

Hearing Jeremy's perspective was really interesting to me because even though we are in the same age group, our experiences are still different.

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I remember having access to computers in elementary school because the school had a computer lab. That was one of our specials so once a week our class would all go to the computer lab and work on a project or play educational games.

Other than that technology was not a very big part of my life as a child or a young student. I feel like some of my elementary education was not as engaging as it could have been but I think that was more to do with the very traditional model of teaching and learning rather than the lack of computers.

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In junior high we received our own personal laptops as part of the 1:1 program. I was in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and we were all required to take a computer/ robotics class. The first semester we all learned how to type, use google docs and powerpoint, and use google for research. Overall I found it to be incredibly helpful and it gave me very important knowledge and tools to succeed in school. I have been using Canvas since 7th grade and I know it like the back of my hand. I think it is an amazing tool that allows for organization and it’s definitely what I’m used to.

There are definitely pros and cons because sometimes online classwork can be very dull and doesn’t engage me at all. But sometimes the work is very creative and inspiring and it makes me very thankful to have technology in my life.