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Our schools' Third World technology does not compute

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By STEVE OTTO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 15, 2009

I was only half-listening as my wife rambled on about her day in the classroom. She's a good teacher - a very good teacher - but she cares too much about her third-grade students. At night it makes it difficult to get in a few words about my job.

I had a little mental list of things I wanted to mention that had happened or I had heard down at Mother Trib. One was that our friend Olin Mott was going to be honored a week from today by the USF Alumni Association.

I've written about Mott before. You might recall the Tampa tire dealer was a hero at Pearl Harbor that December morning so long ago. He has been a strong supporter of the Joshua House shelter and is working with the USF College of Education to get computers and tutors into Hillsborough County schools

A well-deserved accolade

Mott is getting the Class of '56 award, which is given to a non-USF person for his or her contributions to the community. He was among Tampa business leaders who helped get the land for the university and later was one of those who worked to bring football to USF.

I thought the 88-year-old Mott ought to be getting honored because he is making a difference for hundreds of students in Hillsborough County. It's not just that he has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through his Michelin Golf Classic, but that he actively is out there bringing together education leaders in the community.

"Are you listening?" That was my wife, who had noticed I wasn't really paying attention.

"We have this special program our kids are supposed to use on the computer several times a week," she continued. "It's called 'Fast Math' and it helps them memorize and learn math tables."

"And the problem is?" I tried to regroup.

"Well, we have 36 students (she co-teaches with another instructor) and we have two computers. They are old and one of them doesn't work at all."

"I thought the school had some sort of computer lab?" I went on. She explained that she is limited to six students on a rigid schedule a couple of times a week.

Her school is a Title One school. Most of the kids are eligible for free lunch. These are students who often get little parental support and many have no access to the Internet at home. It is still a good school, staffed by dedicated teachers who are asked to do too much.

You would think

It seems ironic to me: We throw so much money into the system that you would expect our schools would be in the front lines of technology. Instead, except for a few grant programs, that is not the case, especially at the primary level.

It won't be long before the next election season rolls around. You might want to consider asking the candidates why our schools are often third-world technological facilities. It isn't something that happened overnight or because of the current recession.

It takes time to achieve mediocrity but we are on our way. The system cannot depend on good people like Olin Mott to lift up a school district as massive as Hillsborough County or any other district in the state.

Keyword: Otto Graphs, for more of Steve Otto's musings.

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