Americans clearly feel that it's important for today's high
school students to be technologically literate and be able to apply
what they know -- long before they leave the hallowed halls of
learning. However, educators might find it helpful to know which
specific aspects of technology Americans are most likely to see as
important.
A Gallup survey conducted for the International Technology
Education Association* earlier this year presented Americans with a
list of five technology-related things that high school graduates
might or might not know or be able to do. Then, respondents were
asked to rate how important it is that high school students
understand and be able to apply each of them.
According to 76% of Americans, it is very important for high
school students to have the knowledge and skills needed to apply
technology. Seventy-one percent of Americans feel that it's very
important for these students to understand the overall effect of
technology on society, and more specifically, a majority of
respondents believe high school students should understand the
relationship between technology and the environment (68%) and
technology and the economy (67%). Slightly fewer adults, although
still a majority (58%), think it's very important that students be
able to evaluate the pros and cons of specific technology
uses.
Gender
Women are more likely than men to see most of the
technology-related items as very important, with the exception of
students being able to evaluate the pros and cons of the uses of
specific technology. Differences between men and women are most
apparent in their evaluations of the importance of understanding
the overall effect of technology on society (78% of women vs. 64%
of men find it very important) and understanding technology's
relationship with the environment (64% of women vs. 45% of
men).
Age and Technology
Age doesn't seem to play a role in the level of importance that
Americans assign to students having the knowledge and skills to
apply technology. However, older Americans are somewhat more likely
than younger Americans to emphasize the importance of several
technological relationships. For example, 70% of Americans aged 50
and older feel that understanding the relationship between
technology and the economy is very important, compared with 59% of
18- to 29-year-olds. Seventy-one percent of respondents 50 and
older think that students should understand the relationship
between technology and the environment before graduating from high
school, while just 63% of younger adults in the 18 to 29 group feel
that way.
Dr. William Dugger Jr., director of technology for ITEA, says
knowledge about technology may be behind differences among older
and younger adults. "Our studies have shown that younger people
have better knowledge about technology, and they are less fearful
of it than older people. But because of their longer life
experiences, those 50 and over may be more hard-wired to have these
complex types of concerns."
Bottom Line
As the ITEA survey illustrates, adults also understand that it's
not enough to put computers in the classrooms. Making certain that
students are engaged with technology across all disciplines is
paramount to their future growth and well-being as they join the
global economy.
*These results are based on telephone interviews with a
randomly selected national sample of 800 adults, aged 18 and older,
conducted March 11-31, 2004. For results based on this sample, one
can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to
sampling and other random effects is ±4 percentage points.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into
the findings of public opinion polls.
