Final Paper Blog 2

So after skimming through Technopoly I realized that I can definitely relate to it more, being that we all are students in this technology era, and have decided to write my final paper on it. The question if modern day college campuses are technopolies can be answered in a few ways. By being at Rutgers, a state university, for four years now I can without a doubt say that our campus is a technopoly. I've started writing my first draft of my paper, and come up with several ideas to support my stand on college campuses being technopolies. Universities today are very keen on presenting themselves as a "state-of-the-art institution" and having many resources available for their students. Students need to have easy access to computers and printers to complete homework assignments and obtain class notes. Online school emails and class websites are also created for conveniently sending out mass messages to the student body. The emergency text system is also another technological resource our school uses, knowing very well that the quickest way to contact students in a campus-wide emergency is by cell phone text messaging. Then I began to think about schools that specifically specialize in certain fields of study, such as architecture, engineering, computer programming, and etc. Students attend these schools because they are well known for their programs, and offer students the latest technology and software to learn about the specific area of study they have chosen. As universities and colleges gain more technological advances and apply them in their school, it increases their standards as a higher education institution. They become more publicized, and the need to uphold their reputation is increased as well. There are many consequences to all this technology. Because everything is so convenient, the effort that students put into actually learning seems to be decreasing. Postman even talks about how many of the jobs on the market today are looking for people with "skills" and not just a well-rounded education. Most jobs require people to use technology in some way, and if a recent graduate isn't familiar with a certain program or software in his or her field, it is unlikely that they would be the first one picked to get that job. Those are some of the ideas I have for now, and hopefully I'll have a more concrete flow of thoughts when I start editing my paper.