MCPS requires students to take a technology course in order to graduate. Many students have expressed their frustration with this rule including myself. Granted, I may not have the full experience of an in-person tech course, as I took foundations of technology during my virtual sophomore year. But I found the course needlessly boring, with the course not necessarily teaching real technology. Unless you plan on becoming an engineer, the assignments given don’t have any real-world applications.
Forcing students to take up a slot in their schedule for a class that they aren’t interested in makes the school curriculum more stressful than necessary. This is especially true for students who are more interested in different electives, which suddenly becomes more inaccessible with a required technology credit. Even for those who are interested in technology, many of the classes are not explained in full detail before you sign up and it’s too late. The flagship course, Foundations of Technology gives students inadequate materials and instruction.
“The class teaches you the thought process of an engineer but nothing else, and you get a bad hands-on experience in an area where hands-on experience is needed,” sophomore Zein Saleh said.
The materials students receive make the given task near impossible, which makes students frustrated. In Foundations of Tech, students were given specific materials for an assignment where the objective is to prevent an egg from cracking from a mini car built using said materials. It’s obvious to see how this would frustrate anyone let alone high school students and shows a lack of thought put into the assignment.
Even if students don’t take Foundations of Technology and instead take the computer programming route, you’ll see students choose the lesser of two evils for two semesters.
Learning a new language (python) is a tall task for any student and shouldn’t be a requirement along with the omnipresent required world language credits. If the required technology credit was reduced to just one semester or completely rid of, some lesser taken electives may see a rise in applicants. If replaced as a credit, we can also see room for a required financial literacy credit implemented in the MCPS curriculum. Financial literacy is a more universal course that can help any type of student as they transition to an adult.
Technology is just one field that only specific majors take into consideration. While with financial literacy, we see it can be applied in real-world scenarios and not just in the classroom and tech jobs.
While it is widely accepted that technology jobs are in demand in today’s economy, a better course should be given to students with clear descriptions of the material when signing up. With this implementation along with the tech credit either being abolished or reduced to one semester, more students can become interested in technology and potentially major in college. Some tweaks with the assignments given can be made so the goals of projects are realistic and help the student. Or vice versa, with more funding there can be better materials that can help students reach goals previously unattainable with the materials currently given. A revamped tech credit would make for a better learning experience for all students in MCPS.
