Written by I’m writing this post in the middle of reading a dissertation that will be defended tomorrow (actually, by now it’s technically “later today”). From the data, the author (doc. candidate) paints a tale that is simultaneously depressing and inspiring. The study is about how 11 African-American students managed to become high achievers within a school and a district that is perpetually labeled as “in need of improvement” and was taken over by the state. The conditions and practices described by the student-participants are borderline criminal. Yet, the resilience and positivity displayed by these students is extraordinary. As I read their accounts of their academic success, I want to hug each and every one of them.
I don’t want to equate the situations, but reading this study got me thinking about the so-called “digital natives” (I know, contested language, but I don’t have a better option yet) and the general failure of their formal schooling institutions to serve them in relevant and meaningful ways. I could imagine a similarly structured study of technologically sophisticated students who’ve managed to learn and do extraordinary things with technology despite the digital dysfunction that is characteristic of their schools. It must happen a lot; tech. whiz kid learns, explores, etc. and does incredible things with technology all while attending a traditional, bricks-and-mortar school largely committed to instructivist pedagogy, static texts, and other artifacts of 19th Century teaching and learning.
If you know of such stories, I’d love to hear them. If there are enough, maybe there’s a way to archive them electronically?
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