In 1979, I founded a professional society named the International Council for Computers in Education (ICCE). About ten years later this professional society changed its name to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). At the time, I argued against using the word technology in place of the term computers. ISTE’s focus is on various aspects of computer technology in education. There are a huge number of technologies that fall outside ISTE’s province and interest.

However, you know how it is, “You win some and you lose some.” For a number of years Information and Communication /technology (ICT) has been a commonly-used term. Recently, Networking and Information Technology (NIT) has emerged as perhaps being a more appropriate name. See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/networking-and-information-technology-nit-not-ict.html.

What is Technology?

Today I had lunch with a man who graduated with me from high school. We reminisced about changes in education over the many years since we graduated. He brought up the topic of the U.S. schools not being as good as those in many other countries.

I encouraged him to elaborate on this topic for a while before I put in my “two cents” worth. He has been educated by the popular media on how many countries are outscoring U.S. students on tests designed for international comparison. His conclusion is that U.S. students are lazy—or, at least lazier than students from many other countries.

He then went on to talk about students nowadays expecting to be told exactly what will be on the test and “giving the teacher a hard time” if the teacher does not adhere to the "rules" of this testing game. For example, if a test covers something in the readings that was assigned but not presented and discussed in class (or, vice versa), students may consider this completely unfair and cause an uproar.

One of the signs of improvement in our educational system is that girls are now allowed and encouraged to do as well as boys in math. Back when I was growing up, girls were discouraged from taking advanced math courses in high school and from being math or science majors.

I recently read the following article:

Tenenbaum, David (10/11/2010). Large study shows females are equal to males in math skills. University of Wisconsin-Madison News. Retrieved 11/3/2010 from http://www.news.wisc.edu/18508.