[quoting Collis' paper] If telecommunications is an educational technology, then what does it mean to be a professional in this domain?
Problems are not new. The intensity is new. This was noted by George Gallup in a recent survey. The following excerpts may be another route for socially responsible research by building a humane superhighway. These ideas are all from the same source listed at the end.
The world is scrambling to build an information superhighway..
And yet information has never reduced man's inhumanity to man: knowledge has not stopped bigotry, racism, hatred, crime, or violence. Neither has intelligence, technology, nor wealth. Unless we build a humane superhighway that transcends the information superhighway, greed, selfishness, and violence will continue to increase at breakneck speed.
The curriculum of the future will either be a merger of the technological and the humane, or we will come to a rapid dead end.
Children in schools at all grade levels seem to be more disruptive, with less internal control. Fighting is the only way that some students know how to maintain dignity, win the respect of peers, or to be successful.
Antiviolence Basic Elements
1. Teach students alternatives to violence.
2. Teach students how to make more effective choices.
3. Model for students alternative expressions of anger, frustration, and impatience.
Approaches for the Humane Highway
1. Reduce cynicism.
2. Welcome all students.
3. Replace discipline based on rewards and punishments with values.
4. Ask students to contribute.
Being human means that we must face violence, but it does not mean that we have to act violently. The unique qualities of the human species provide us with hope. This hope requires a leap of faith--faith and hope are spiritual values, and it is in the realm of faith and hope, the spiritual dimension, that we will find the key to our survival. Each and every human life is precious. Each deserves to be safe and free. Each must be validated, not violated.
Cynicism is easy when life is cheap.Curwin, R. L. (1995). A humane approach to reducing violence in schools. Educational Leadership, 52(5), 72-75
Reducing cynicism and practicing conflict resolution skills via this domain may increase professionalism in telecommunications.