Ah the video

I think most of us can agree that the video was a bit painful. It was, as already mentioned, quite old and as technology played a major part in the subject it was hard for me to take it seriously. Technology changes so much in a year let alone almost 20. For most of the film I felt like I was watching some 80's corporate training video for a new kind of high school. It was also boring.

Putting aside my problems with the video, it was obviously relevant to the subjects we have been discussing and learning about in class. The digital divide was easily seen just by the fact that the students at the school had so much time with computers and were able to learn how to use "current" technologies that would help them excell for the rest of their lives. The advantage that all the students at tech high school recieved by gaining technology fluency versus the typical high school student of the time is the digital divide. The digital divide was also evident within the school as the girl who worked at Long John Silver's had trouble graduating with her class because she had to work to make money where many students there simply had money and were able to focus on their schoolwork. I thought her case was especially interesting because it was kind of paradoxical how she was an example of the digital divide in tech high but her even getting into tech high was an example of narrowing the digital divide. Tech high encouraged her to drop out of gang life and focus on her love of computers but she was still part of a lower income group and didnt do as well at school because of it.

I liked the parts of the video concerning the first community technology centers. It was interesting to see how the LA urban league worked to train people to use technology and help them become competitive in the job market. It helped me understand how important community technology centers could be to any community by benefitting those who need it most and gradually benefitting the community as a whole.