After finishing watching the movie, my first reaction was that the majority of the students they interviewed, aside from Kep, seemed to be no more ahead than any other high schooler applying for college. Actually, they seemed worse off to me. Since their high school experience consisted solely on technology education, I felt as if they missed learning about other valuable information. It seems as if they would be lost if they were unable to get a job in computers--they seem very limited in their career choices. Maybe if they had a broader education, they would have a more secure future ahead of them. Furthermore, two of the individuals, Luisa and Travis, had no idea what they were going to do now. Luisa is still stuck working at her fast food job, and Travis is without a job because none in his field are available.
Also, while they all seemed to have a high work ethic and interest in their education, it was surprising how poorly they seemed to be doing. Travis wasn't sure if he would be able to get his project done and graduate, and Luisa was unable to graduate. I think it is interesting that the video would include 2 such individuals instead of more individuals from the school that graduated and moved on to be more successful.
I also agree with Nick and eemartin2 when they say that they were cheated out of a normal high school experience. The lack of sports, music, art, and other extracurricular activities, I believe, will have a negative impact on their future. It is important to be exposed to a wide variety of things, not just a specialization so early on in one's life. What if they find later that they really don't enjoy computers or their work? With their lack of other experiece, it may be very hard to break away into something new.
Video Reflection
14 years ago
4 comments:
The note on specialization caught my attention. I don't think it is necessarily bad that they specialize so early; during the days of apprenticeships, specializations happened when people were 7-8 years old. Kids as young as 3-4 are recruited to be gymnasts in China. So i guess i didnt notice that point b.c i didnt feel that it was particlarly negative. And my views on labor and race are unchanged.
I feel that while they may not have seemed to be better off they were not all kids that thought of themselves as college bound. I know that I for one would not have been able to get a decent job straight out of high school that would have been an alright career. Travis at least had enough skills that he could have begun a career had a position been open for him, and Kep did start a career without needing to attend college. As far as the specialization thing goes I'm a little torn. While I value a broad education and think that the system where we continue to get more specialized in our education as we move forward has value I also can see where an apprenticeship type system could help kids who might not be on the college track. For those of us who are however I think that having a broad high school background helps us discover what interests us and what we are good at instead of picking a career when we pick a high school. The internships provided by the tech school did seem very apprenticeship like.
I also agree that these high school students were deprived of a rounded education. Specializing in something like gymnastics might be a good idea, but technology is different--it changes rapidly. If you don't succeed in the job market early on your knowledge will quickly become outdated and the skills you learn will be significantly less useful later on in life. It's like putting all of your eggs in one basket: you may benefit, but there are significantly greater risks.
In addition to missing out on a more well-rounded formal education, it may be harder to form bonding social capital at a tech school.
I also agree that they missed out on the typical high school education that most of us have benefited from. I think you have a good point when you mentioned if their career in technology fails they are kind of screwed.
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