I just finished testifying at City Hall(that's councilwoman Gale Brewer in the arrow) and I am pretending to take notes as I am surreptitiously peeking my Tria 650's camera lens above the table. I was supposed to go last in this group of 3 but I just sat down right in front of the mic and grabbed it. Councilwoman Brewer said I had 2 MIN - when everyone else has had 10min! So I didn't get to say most of my notes - And the 30sec bell freaked me out.
I was the only person who testified as a consultant - not representing a non-profit or technology company. The group before me was Intel, IBM and etc. Everyone that testified pushed their own product/service - instead of giving them overall scope of the role technology is and can play in education. So I said my stuff - below is what I said and below that are my extended notes which I didn't get to.
I can't believe I even stayed to testify - the only reason I stayed is because I didn't feel that anyone talked about nyc youth in terms of civic participation. If that was addressed - I would've left. The woman from Apple brought up global citizenship - thank goddess! - but she flew in from Florida so a lot of nyc specific issues were left out.
MY ABBREVIATED TESTIMONY
HI AND THANK YOU - MY NAME IS TRICA WANG
I COME FROM THE PERSPECTIVE of someone WHO HAS WORKED AROUND THe WORLD - China and COMMUNITY - SOUTH BRONX - BED-STUY as a teacher and consultant in applying new technology to foster critical learning and civic participation.
ROLE OF EDUCATION IS TO CREATE CITIZENS WHO CAN NAVIGATE THE WORLD AND SOLVE PROBLEMS - that starts with solving problems in their own community.
WE HAVE A CRISIS IN EDUCATION!
you are not engaged in civic participation and we are not encouraging youth to do so in a way that they can contextualize.
DIGITAL DIVIDE IS FAKE - IT's MADE UP = - THERE IS NO "LACK" of TECHNOLOGY in LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES - YOU ARE ALL CRAZY (I didn't say that) - IT's RACIST and CLASSIST
THERE IS MORE DIGITAL CABLE SUBSCRIPTION In these "communities" then HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND INTERNET PENETRATION - this is problem
EVERY LOW-INCOME or IMMIGRANT YOUTH I WORK WITH IN the SOUTH BRONX HAS at least one and usually 2-3 of the following: cell phone, cell phone with camera, i-pod, mp3 player, cd-playerportable gaming devices, myspace accounts and blogs - THEY ARE VERY TECH SAVVY - WE JUST DONT'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR INTELLECTUAL CURRENCY SO WE TELL THEM LEAVE LEAVE THE CELL PHONE /IPOD AT HOME.
WE are denying them of their intelligence and stuffing them with outdated text books.
FOR THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY THAT IS SCALABLE DOWN TO THE INDIVIDUAL/ Previously only large government or commercial institutions could take advantage of this - but now individuals can create, share and access content so easily. The problem is not in eXPENSIVE EUIPMENT, the problem is in finding the right kind of technology experts who understand how to engage youth in technology from the perspective of critical thinking and civic participation. If we don't teach out youth to care about their world and to solve problems - then are in big trouble because other countries are (I did't say this last line but I wish I did! It would've been perfect!)
THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME SPEAK.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>EXTENDED NOTES<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
INTRODUCTION OF ME - Technology and Education Consultant
government agencies - NASA, United Nations
Cultural Institutions:
Queens Museum of Arts,
Local Community Development Centers: Hunts Point, Bronx at The Point CD
NYC Dpt. of Education High Schools: Bedford Academy High School – Bed-Stuy
STORY of BED-STUY - Bed-Stuy media search story – versus Park Slope. When youth googled Bed-Stuy, negative stuff showed up like CRACK - MURDER - DEATH - KILLING - RAPE - BLACK - UNEDUCATED
-when youth googled Park Slope (upper middle white gentrified ex-Puerto Rican neighborhood) down the block - positive showed up like TREES - BROWNSTONES - ART - CULTURE - CHILDREN - YOUTH
When I asked the youth why everything about Bed-Stuy was negative - they said it's because the media is negative. So we asked them if they had the power to change things what would do? They came up with creating a media campaign to reverse negative images so that more positive things could be found online.
We Teamed up with EYEBEAM's education dpt to have their new technology teacher give us a class on how to create street art as a strategic community response to the negative images of Bed-Stuy.
-In the fall we plan on teaming up with NYU's Women of Color Policy Network to work with the math teachers to teach them statistical analysis of policy impact on their neighborhood - and to do quantitative comparisons with other neighborhood's resources, funding, budget and socio-health data.
-youth created work and created a blog www.bedstuylives.blogspot.com
-youth realized that when Google image searching Bed-Stuy - only 400 images show up versus the 16,000 images of Park Slope. Next year we will work with the history and English teachers on creating a photo-essay and history research project while visually documenting bed-Stuy with their cell phones.
EDUCATION ACTION with BEDFORD ACADEMY HS THAT MEETS NYC BOE STANDARDS:
-WIKIPEDIA, TAKE PICTURES, WRITE ESSAYS = HISTORICAL RESEARCH INTO
-research shirley chilsom, Slavery, Dutch colony history in NYC
-teamed up with EYEBEAM - BED-STUY -DO OR DIE CROSSED OUT MEDIA CAMPAIGN
PURPOSE OF EDUCATION
Purpose of education to prepare our youth to be citizens who can navigate the world, solve problems- part of that begins with solving problems in their own community before the solve the world's problems.
CRISIS:
#1: YOUTH ARE REMOVED FROM CIVIC ENGAGEMENT -
-one-way technology that discouraged this – television
-we need to focus on two-way technology that encourages a feedback loop,participation among users, critical thinking in content production - e.g. blogs, video blogging, podcasting, social virtual platforms
#2: YOUTH AND MANY COMMUNITIES DO NOT HAVE ONLINE PRESENCE
-What happens when they are invisible? - BED-STUY WONt' BE ON THE MAP - MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE ALREADY NOT ON THE MAP DUE TO THEIR COUNTRY's POLITICAL INSTABILITY - RWANDANS and SUDANES invisible- we can't have this happen in our own country where people do not have the ability to tell their story, to read about other stories and learn through new technology.
-we can’t wait every 4 year for the census to tell us how the increase in black/immigrant/latino youth who are not even getting their GED when they drop=out.
-large groups of people are being left out if they are not going to engage with these new tools
-they will be invisible not presence!
-they usually are the disenfranchised, marginalized, they look like my immigrant family, the low-income communities that I work in
-we need to work with this group b.c THEY Have the highest need for having their voices represented b.c social policy, laws, GREATLY EFFECT this group b.,c they are in a vulnerable position of not being able to REACT and to critically challenge socioeconomic forces that negatively effect them.
-social policy will be enforced upon their community without their feedback - this is a problem! we have genocide in critical thinkers - we are raising schools of robots who can test well, and if not they drop out.
SOLVE? - We are technology dependent world
1. Teaching people how to use two-way technology like blogging – engaged them in civic participation in a info rich world
2. Appeals to howard Gardners’ multiple intelligences - Participatory Tech works with all 7 intelligences
Blogging thought as text appeals to the logical through web design, site architecture, intrapersonal
New virtual learning platforms appeal to spatial learners
3. Focus on Constructive learning
Collaborative learning
Analyze, interpret info coming at them,
How to manage info and thoughts they create
How to use technology to have online precense
In China - every youth has a computer in school in every classroom, and every youth is allowed to IM each other during class b.c to the teachers it shows they are working together on homework - teamwork is developed through mobile texting.
Therefore we cannot treat portable handheld devices such as IPODS, GAMING DEVICES SUCH AS PSP2/NINTENDO DS LIGHT/GAMEBOY/CELL-PHONE as ENEMIES!!! They can be utilized for learning in multiple ways!
4. stop talking about the digital divide = it's FAKE!!! and it's rACIST - CLASSIST and it undermines the potential in using the technology that is already existing. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE APPROACH is wrong b.c there is plenty of technology in low-income communities. My kids who live in projects have cell phones with camera, PSP2, gaming stations and etc - the problem is that we are not holding ourselves accountable to teach technology in a way that engages them with their immense technical currency they bring to school everyday!!!! Gamers are amazingly quick thinkers and problem solvers - why can't we take that knowledge and have them apply it to learning mathematics in a gaming environment? Why can't we get them to take their problem solving skills and teaching them binary language of computer programming? BECAUSE OUT TEACHERS DON;t KNOW AND WE DON;t HAVE THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT to teach them.
There is not digital divide in low income communities. There is more high speed digital cable subscription then the availability of high-speed broadband internet penetration! This is a problem!!! Out kids have easy access to HBO and they pay $150 for cable packages with expensive TV's - but they don't have internet access at their house?
Illiteracy, drop out rates and etc are not a technology problem - it is a social problem that we must work through to work on policy to enact funding in a direction that will allow flexible partnerships with knowledgeable Participatory Technology experts who can teach educators, community leaders - how to use new Technology to rapidly connect youth, foster critical thinking, share stores and facilitate teamwork.
CLOSING
For the first time we have technology that is scalable down to the individual - it is not expensive to this – the difficulty will be teaming with the kind of experts, groups who can think about tech on this level of civic participation and education.
FACTS AND STATS (from NY TIMES Article)
In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated.
By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts.
Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.
In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20's who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30's, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.
¶In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.
Among black dropouts in their late 20's, more are in prison on a given day — 34 percent — than are working — 30 percent — according to an analysis of 2000 census data by Steven Raphael of the University of California, Berkeley.
Closer studies reveal that in inner cities across the country, more than half of all black men still do not finish high school, said Gary Orfield, an education expert at Harvard and editor of "Dropouts in America" (Harvard Education Press, 2004).
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