Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!burl!codas!usfvax2!pdn!reggie From: reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: Knowledge Gap Summary: The haves and the have nots Keywords: knowledge, gap, technology, society Message-ID: <1903@pdn.UUCP> Date: 15 Dec 87 15:54:14 GMT References: <8712132230.AA10889@bu-cs.BU.EDU> <968@uokmax.UUCP> Organization: Paradyne Corporation, Largo FL Lines: 72 In article <968@uokmax.UUCP>, sarobnet@uokmax.UUCP (Scott Alan Robnett) writes: jplpro!carlos (Carlos Carrion) writes: > > We all are familiar with the concept of a Generation Gap, or > >a Wealth Gap. But I think that a more ominous concept creeping up on society > >is the idea of a Knowledge Gap of which one could say the Technology Gap > >is but a subset. > Gee, I dunno, what with kids growing up with computers in school and > video games and VCR's and microwaves and etc. etc. ad infinitum; just who > will be left in 40+ years (at least in this country) that will opose > technology for technology's sake? Or do you feel that a violent overthrow of > technology is imminent? Although Scott points out that even those who don't understand technology still derive benefits from it, there still is a danger here. Sure the hard working blue color people make use of technology in the form of consumer electronics. It makes life easier. Now he can use his remote control to change the TV or tell the VCR what to do. But how does his life benefit from technology? How many people read Kurt Vonegat's "Player Piano"? Society was split into two groups. Those who were managers and engineers who understood and controled technology (the haves) and those whose only other recourse was to enlist in some sort of corps of workers to perform those functions which still required manual labor. The gap between these two economic groups was quite wide, with no middle ground. Although, our children are exposed to technology at an early age in school, there are other factors that determine how their futures will be shaped. One of these factors is the childs parents and their emphasis that is placed upon education and learning. There are many people out there in this world, who do not think along these lines. Nor are they necessarily capable of helping their children along in their education, both from a lack of knowledge and a financial standing. Without support from the home environment, no school can be expected to shape our children's futures. The education must begin at home, and it is the rare parent who gets that involved in the first place. Furthermore, those types of parents tend to be better educated themselves. One rarely finds parents with low levels of education and low paying jobs, who can instill in their children the urge to learn. A child may rise above these conditions, but many do not and end up in the same low-level, low paying, manual labor jobs their parents did. Look at the coal miners in West Virginia and Penn. How about the inner city poor. Or perhaps those in rural areas. I just moved here to Florida from New York a few months ago. Although this area (Tampa Bay) is growing, there are a great number of local people who are not well educated, work in low paying jobs, and are not going to push their kids to do better. In fact, many people in technical positions here send their kids to private, not public school, to keep the influence of the local people out of the way of their kids' education. You also find the same in the large cities, eg. New York. Those with some money] get their kids into private schools or move to the suburbs where the schools are better. Those who live in the city and can not afford private school, must accept the low quality of the public schools. Now given this, in 40+ years do you really see that much of a change? We must find a way to not only improved educational opportunities for all, but to provide kids from a disadvantaged background with a greater level of desire for education. Throwing money at the problem is not the answer, it never is. There must be a way to help kids overcome the negative influences that come from a background that does not encourage education and bettering oneself. -- George W. Leach Paradyne Corporation {gatech,rutgers,attmail}!codas!pdn!reggie Mail stop LF-207 Phone: (813) 530-2376 P.O. Box 2826 Largo, FL 34649-2826