As you all know, this is a blog where I usually talk about different strategies you can use to help grow your business and brand online using social media tools. If you have read my posts, then you probably also realize how much I think the Internet can help people. This is especially true when it comes to providing affordable education for everyone.
I have thought for a long time now that our educational system is broken. I also am of the opinion that it isn’t due to lack of teachers or lack of money. It is simply a broken process. I think that we are hurting our selves by sending a message to our future generations that we want them to memorize something for a test, and regurgitate in order to get a good grade. This process of education is a memory game, not a true learning process.
Instead of sitting in classrooms where people learn at different rates, we need to encourage young people to experience different things and learn at their own pace. That is more possible than ever with the Internet. We hear all the time how leaders say, well if we could just get more good teachers to come here, we would be fine. The problem is no one wants to come and live in our community. This is where the system is broken. You don’t need to think so small. We cannot only have the best teachers go anywhere but we can bring world-renowned leaders and instructors into every home across the entire country. The Internet makes this possible.
Through the Internet, I can sit at home and be taught by a professor from Yale or Harvard or interact with a NASA Astronaut. The possibilities are endless; we just need to quit thinking in forms of old technology. It’s time for the entire education system to be revamped and embrace the new technologies we are now fortunate to have.
This is a major project that can drastically fix and address many of the problems we face today as a nation. If you give a kid in Allendale County, SC the access to the Internet and all of the educational tools it offers, he or she can receive a great education and go on to help others in their communities and begin to change the culture and atmosphere into one of great success and opportunity.
While we are working on this issue, lets pay tribute to a great non-profit organization called Kids Need To Read. The group has one simple, yet difficult goal: to bring books to every kid across the country and teach them how to read. Their argument is passionate and one that I think many should listen to. Reading solves many problems. As I wrote above, reading leads to learning. Learning leads to development. Development then leads to action. Action leads to success. We can eliminate so many problems that we face today through helping out organizations such as Kids Need To Read by donating and making it possible for kids to get books.
Because this blog normally deals with technology, let me talk a little about the importance of getting books to kids using the latest technology. While I love iPads and tablets and pretty much all Apple products, I don’t think tablets and computers are great devices to read on. The display is bright and leads to lots of glare. Beyond the simple difficulty of not being as clear to read on tablets make your brain process the same information differently. If I read a book on an iPad and then read the same book in its traditional form, I am learning more through the traditional style of reading.
This is not to say that students should use e readers. I am a very big fan of e readers. If we put these new devices in the hands of our kids it will be like giving them thousands of books at once. I would like to see organizations such as Kids Need To Read, distribute e readers to all of the schools and kids they are involved with. Through donating e readers instead of regular books you allow them to learn technology while learning to read at the same time.
Other benefits of e readers over traditional books are ease of use, portability, faster to read on, carry your books on one device wherever you go. I am happy to see that many textbooks are now becoming e reader friendly. This is a huge development in education because they are cheaper, use less resources, and are easier for students to bring to class. Instead of worrying about bringing all of the different required materials to class, students can simply bring their e reader and know they have all of their books.
If you visit their website, you will see that Barnes and Noble is one of the sponsors of their page and presumably their organization. I would be willing to bet that if the founders and leaders of this organization called Barnes and Noble they could work out a partnership where Barnes and Noble would donate their nook devices to the kids in the Kids Need To Read program. This would be great for the organization as it would reduce their costs and bring books to kids they didn’t think they could. This is also a great strategic move on behalf of Barnes and Noble. They would be creating brand loyalists and gaining very positive PR. These kids would know that Barnes and Noble helped them and would be much more likely to buy their products over competitors such as the Amazon Kindle. If Barnes and Noble isn’t willing to help with this I’m sure Amazon is.
Whether reading in traditional form or on your e reader, the main point is that it is so important for kids to learn how to read. This is why I am writing this post in the hopes it will give them a little more exposure than they had before and lead people to help them with their cause. Please take a minute and visit their website at www.kidsneedtoread.com.
I think once you get past the bright colors and bad design, you will see what I saw, an organization that is trying to make a positive impact on kids lives by teaching them how to read. Through doing this, they are giving them the tools they need to be successful in life. That is something we should all want to be a part of.
