Past And Present Obstacles Of Education

The Past and Present Obstacles of Education Are today’s educational obstacles and challenges as bad as or even worse than they were in the sixties? Today’s generation of students face some if not more of the same obstacles that they did in the past. Malcolm X explains in this excerpt from his autobiography “Learning to Read and Write” that he motivated his people to gain an education and earn freedom from oppression and poor living conditions. One of the obstacles that Malcolm X faced and we still face today is a dysfunctional and poor home life. Another obstacle is the lack of guidance from our educational system. A new challenge we face in today’s society is technology. A dysfunctional and poor home life is a huge obstacle that students …show more content…
This was not a problem back in the sixties, but it has become an issue in the present. The use of technology has hindered the way we communicate with our peers. We are no longer required to discuss things in person, when we can simply pick up a phone and call someone or turn on a computer and type what we want to say. This has caused us to give up our peer integration. Additionally, our vocabulary has become condensed due to technology, because of these new forms of communication. We have become used to using “slang” or text talk which has caused us to forget the correct way to use our vocabulary. Another obstacle that technology has provided is an easy distraction. In today’s society, most people have cell phones, laptops, iPods, and other forms of technology that can cause us to lose focus. It has been proven that technology is distracting as shown in the quote, “Many studies find that the use of laptops and smart phones by some students in a class room is a distraction not only to the student using the device, but to others as well” (Griffin, 5). The author, Audrey Griffin, also states in her article that the “Use of technology affects one’s ability to pay attention and comprehend the material, leading to lower test scores and grades” (5), which means that by using technology we are only creating bigger obstacles for ourselves. Technology was presented to the classroom as a way to help students learn more efficiently. If it is used correctly in the classroom, then it will become an aid to students, but if not, it will only create more distractions and challenges in today’s society. Even though home life, guidance, and technology continue to be a problem in today’s educational system, there are many resources out there that were not available in the past that make receiving an education possible. There are many things that can get in the way of a student pursuing an education, but