Compare & Contrast Rough Draft 1

Education between Generations

Needless to say, my education and that of my parents have been very different. Both my mother and my father graduated high school in 1987, over 20 years ago, and now that I am about to graduate high school and move onto college, I have really come to recognize the differences on the education system between generations: the way research is done as well and the pace of the subjects being taught.

My education seems to revolve around everything electronic. Teachers now have many more resources available to them than they did during my parent’s time, specifically computers. Computers are everyday tools used for teaching and are in every classroom. Teachers now have lap top computers available to them so that students are able to use a computer to write or research most of their assignments. Every year, the amount of work we do on computers, and the amount of other electronic gadgets that are in the classroom increases. Even in math almost every student owns a graphing calculator rather than a standard basic calculator; in fact many teenagers haven’t seen a basic calculator in years. We also have an advantage in research with other technological advances, such as scanners and the Internet. Scanners allow us to photo copy pages of a book we are reading and cannot take home, and the internet provides a fast and efficient way to gain any kind of information one can imagine.

My parents never could have imagined such things. There wasn't much too their high school education, a lot of lecturing, bookwork, tests and research papers. Most of what they learned came from teacher lectures, our issued school books and hours at the library doing research. They actually had to pull books from the shelves, read from numerous books and articles just to gather the information we needed to do a research paper. Then it invariably always had to be written in pen and double spaced on notebook paper, rather than on a computer. They didn’t even know what e-mail was; instead we passed notes during class and in the halls, hoping not to get caught! My parents still refuse to get texting on their phones, “why text when I could just pick up the phone and call the person.”

Another main difference is the class structure or pace. Teenagers today enjoy class structures based on competency levels. For example, we have basic studies, advanced studies, accelerated studies and advanced placement studies. My brother and I have always been in the advanced placement studies program. This means that if we maintain their GPA and stay on the course outlined for them, we could be dual enrolled, earning high school and college credits at the same time; by doing this they could potentially receive an Associated Degree quicker than other students. The pace of these classes is intimidating to me. They will often cover twice as much material as a basic level class in the same amount of time. My parents attended classes, such as basic math, English, reading, and science. They were not introduced to high level math classes, such as, Algebra until high school. Now Algebra concepts are introduced even in elementary school. Both me and my brother took Algebra in seventh grade. There are so many different classes available to students today. In fact, if the school doesn't offer the classes desired, students can often take them on line.

When my parents were in school, they had all competency levels in one class, but teachers did try to make class stimulating for those more advanced students, while still working with those that tended to lag behind in class. Unfortunately, this was a disadvantage for my mom, as well as many other students. Although she made great grades, she easily got bored with classes. As a result, once she graduated high school, she did not foresee my self going to college, feeling that it would be such a waste of time and a bore.

I think that the education difference between my parents and me will also be just as different from that of me and my future children, but in other ways. Who knows, maybe children won’t even be required to leave home to attend class, it could all be done on the Internet. And I am sure that the computers we know today won’t exist; they will probably all look like a laptop, or smaller and lighter and their connections will be faster. Who knows, maybe their teachers will be robots. (;