My Brain Hurts

The road to NECC

Not much of the journey actually involved a road but after exactly 24 hrs of travelling later our feet were on Texan soil. Time zones certainly are strange – 12 hrs in the air and we arrives at LA 4 hours before we left Sydney. Then a two hour flight to San Antonio has us arriving 4 hours after we left LA. Any wonder students have difficulty understanding this concept if they haven’t experienced it. A good sleep on the plane really does wonders to avoid jet lag. What can’t be helped is leaving our home in Canberra where it was 3 degrees this morning to be greeted by 37 (95F) degrees in San Antonio, unseasonly hot. We felt like snowmen at the end of winter.

San Antonio

Famous as the site of the Alamo, this region has some rich history. Apart from the Alamo, which was very interesting, other nearby Spanish missions are in more original condition and well worth a visit. Texas itself had a troubled beginning involved in a tug of war with Mexico which once controlled all of  California, Texas, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona as well as large portions of Utah and Wyoming. This represents an area roughly a quarter the size of the current US. The history of the battles over these regions is very interesting.

The Riverwalk area is a must to visit, a level below and a world away from the cityscape of San Antonio. The San Antonio river is only 10 metres wide and 2 metres deep, concrete walls and light green in colour but well lined with trees, pathways and arched bridges it really is a very attractive area. Dotted with restaurants this area really comes alive at night. Take a twilight water tour to get a feel for the area.

Found a wonderful little restaurant tonight called the Republic of Texas. For the entrée we chose a house special of two frozen margaritas and nachos for only $8 followed by a 16oz steak for $11 and a humungous apple crumble  . . .  and another margarita which really hi the spot after such a hot day. They sell a 46oz margarita (I think that’s one and a half litres?) for $25 but we weren’t game to go that far.

Where do we set the balance between protecting students from the evils of the Internet and the disruption blocked websites can cause to a lesson? As we know most blocking system overblocks and even if a teacher checks prior to a lesson there can still be issues. One high school I know of has removed all blocking from their system citing the time wasted constantly unblocking sites and the educational time lost through trying to access a blocked site as more important than the so called benefits of protective blocking.

My school is undergoing a period of IT renewal so as part of that process we distributed a survey to staff and students to gauge their opinions on what we now do and what they would like to do. The number one complaint from both groups was blocked websites. As one student put it to me “I am a responsible student, I don’t want to visit time wasting sites, I want to use the Internet to assist my education so why are sites I need to get to blocked?”

Three months into the trial the school I mentioned above is relishing in their new found educational freedom. Perhaps a lead that more should follow.

Education rather than regulation, deal with the transgressors rather than pronounce everyone guilty from the start.