Turkle & Wesch

Turkle & Wesch

As discussed during class, there is a clear connection between Turkle and Wesch's work. Turkle argues that while technology is a great thing that connects people from all over the world and brings people together, it also keeps people from making deeper connections. Technology makes it too easy to keep these connections surface level. Turkle write, "In the silence of connection, people are comforted by being in touch with a lot of people — carefully kept at bay. We can’t get enough of one another if we can use technology to keep one another at distances we can control: not too close, not too far, just right." They explain that "People get so used to being short changed out of real conversation, they are willing to dispense it all together.” Similarly, Wesch talks about how many think that if teaching is happening, then learning is happening. But pedagogical connections require so much more than that. As Wesch explains, "Focusing on the quality of learning rather than the quality of teaching transforms the entire educational agenda." 

    Furthermore, when teachers focus more on their teaching than student learning, we erode their desire to learn by forcing them to conform to standards that may not actually benefit them. “If our students are “not cut out for school”, perhaps we have made the mold too narrow or inflexible, or more likely, just not meaningful enough to inspire a student to fit in. That’s the significant problem,” said Wesch. I also experienced this from middle school until high school. I loved learning, until I lost my father and suddenly the requirements of school were just that.       

Perhaps if more of my teachers had taken the time to learn more about me and learn why I was struggling, they would have saved us both time and frustration. I began to believe that I simply was not a good student, rather than a student who was not being adequetly served by their education system. I think students often blame themselves because they haven't learned yet to truly critique these systems, in part because this critique is something that takes time to develop, in part through proper education. 

    Wesch says, "As most of us know from our own experience, the best learning almost always occurs in the absence of a teacher, for it is then that learners are free to pursue with great passion the questions that are meaningful and relevant to their own lives." I wish I had recognized this as a student, but I'm grateful for my educational journey because it taught me a lot about the cracks in our education system and why many very capable students struggle. Wesch and I share similar philosophies in that education is to teach children how to be impactful members of society, but that doesn't necessarily mean reaching the many requirements that we force on our students.