Technological Revolution in Argentinian Schools
The article entitled “Argentina to Boot Up Tech-Focused Programs in Public Schools”, touches upon the push of Argentinian schools to adapt technology in the classrooms for economic purposes. The economic reasoning is key to motivating Argentina government in funding the initiative because they believe that if people are educated with computers and technology, their economy will better from it. Government hopes that this will spark more people choosing information technology careers, very much in demand in Argentina. Also, it is a concern that a country that already uses technology to vote, get money, and register as a worker should have more knowledge about the technology at hand.
Aníbal Carmona, president of the Chamber of Business for Software and Information Services has an interesting statement that reminds me of how Sen might define “capability poverty”. He says, “If we can win the war against the lack of human resources, the sky is the limit. We have a 2020 plan to double our exports.” From the perspective of Sen, Argentina is not only viewing poverty on the economic level, but rather seeing technology as an opportunity for the poor and uneducated to become capable of working with technology on both a personal and income level. By giving individuals the resources to become equipped in technology, not only is income poverty being addressed, but also capability poverty.
The technological education in Argentina’s schools are in place for both primary and secondary schools. There has been push back in the primary grades, however, because of the complexity of learning some of the technology. A 19 year old Argentinian boy says, “It seems to me that teaching programming to kids in primary school will confuse them a lot. I don’t know if they are mature enough to understand it. In my school, almost no one chooses the training in programming. Everyone thinks it is the most difficult.” But what is hard for youth to understand is the beneficial problem solving skills that come along with the added curriculum. In the end, the challenge should not only make students adept in computer technology, but also make them better thinkers.
