What does it mean to be a moral conservative?

The other day, I had a friend ask, "How do you reconcile your religious beliefs with your being a democrat?" Unfortunately, I gave my friend the boring answer. I explained how I agree with the social philosophies associated with the democratic party, but like many democrats, I am morally conservative. This means that I would vote against legislation that facilitates abortion, gay marriages, and other policies that are detrimental to the moral fabric of our nation. I have to admit that I am a little bit disappointed with the weak nature of my response. Here's what I wish I would have said:

How do YOU reconcile YOUR religious belief with your being a REPUBLICAN? Seriously! I am baffled that so many people insist on applying Christian teachings to so called "moral" issues, but refuse to apply them to matters of social policy. I personally favor the intermingling of morals and legislation because every law that is made is inherently moral in nature. That is to say that every law that is passed implies a moral judgement on what is right and wrong in society. But if you are going to advocate the use of values and morals in public policymaking, you shouldn't do it half way. The Savior explicitly exhorts us all throughout the New Testament that we should "give to him that asketh thee" and to "give alms of of such things as ye have." If we believe helping the poor is a moral act, the right thing to do, why do we not support those who seek to give opportunities to the poor. It is not enough to say, "people only are taking advantage of the system" or "by helping people, we are only making them dependent." Jesus didn't say to give alms to those who deserve them. He didn't say to help those who were able to help themselves.

Finally, it is not enough to say, "I want to give, but I don't want society to make me give." This is like saying, "I want to decide not to have an abortion, but I don't want the government to force me not to have an abortion." Another reason is that while personal accountability is real, much of the racial and social inequality is directly tied to a dirty national heritage of slavery, biased policy against immigrants, and social inequality in schools. If the government is part of the problem, it is important to help it to be part of the solution.

Can you be a Christian and a Democrat? Yes. If you find yourself agreeing to the things I have said, you might be more of a Democrat than you think.

Is technology really bringing us together?

Now don't get me wrong. I have really enjoyed my blogging experience. But I can't help but question, in a classroom setting, does blogging unify the class, or separate it? Let me qualify that question. We are in an age where communication is easier than it has ever been. We can follow the news in myriad mediums. We can send and recieve emails rather than wait for days or months to receive snail mail. But it seems to me that technology leads to a downgrade in communication rather than an upgrade. We spend time every week sitting at a computer communicating in writing precisely so we don't have to sit down in person with people who walk around all day on our same campus! We say, "isn't this convenient that I can get all the benefits of talking to Danielle without ever really having to talk to Danielle?" Now I can go online and grocery shop, having my groceries delivered to my house, so that I never have to interact with the other shoppers in my community. All of my entertainment needs can be met from the comfort of my own house via satelite, withouth the discomfort of interpersonal interaction in, say, a theatre or community dinner. It seems that technology is doing more to separate us from the world and from eachother than it is doing to unite us. What do you think?

Rules of Thumb for Use of Technology

1. Any technology used should not obscure the learning that technology was introduced to promote.

2. Technology should not be used to isolate students from each other or to preempt meaningful interaction with other students.

3. I did read the Roscelle article and scanned the Jonassen article.

Technology in the Classroom

I grew up going a series of different schools in California, Utah, and Colorado. In each of the schools that I went to, technology played a rather unobtrusive role in my educational experience.

In many of the schools, we were required to watch a news program during one portion of the day, so television in the classroom was nearly universal. One of the major biproducts of the technological revolution of the twentieth century seems to be the increased access to information through the media. I found that in most of my non-math classes, the use of video was common to teach about a concept. Additionally, I found that I knew more about the current events around me because of the access to television media in the classroom.

The second way that I noticed technology in my educational experience was through the computer. The first experience that I had with computers in school was a program that taught typing skills through an old black and green moniter apple computer. I thought that was effective in teaching typing, because typing really is an isolated experience. I didn't think that it would be as useful in promoting activity that could be benefited by interaction with peers. Besides this activity, almost all of my interaction with computers in the classroom entailed trips to the computer lab to type out papers for my English classes.

All and all, I am beginning to see that technology could be used much more in the classroom than I experienced in my K-12 schooling. I do believe that it should be unobtrusive however. Technology is a means, not an end in English education. Ironically, many of the works that we might read will be scathing indictments of the development of technology and societies built around technology.