My reaction to "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology"

Upon finishing Collins & Halverson's book, "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology," I am left with mixed feelings. I love that the book started off by realizing and taking into account that there are two distinct schools of thought when it comes to technology: the technology lovers and the technology skeptics. I would consider myself a little bit of a mix of the two. I thought it was helpful that the book addressed each of those positions in thoughtful manners. I expected the book to completely trash the technology skeptics' arguments but was pleasantly surprised when they were respectful and understanding of that stance.
The book then launched into the history of schooling and how we came to be where we are in education today. It was interesting to see how history is sort of repeating itself; we started out as a system of apprenticeship, then went to universal schooling, and are now leaning back toward the more "hands-on" approach to education. It was cool to see that education has always been trying to prepare people for what they need to be successful in life. I also loved the connection between the printing press and technology now; when the printing press was first invented it allowed materials to be widely published, making them easier to access, evaluate, modify, and refine. The same is now being said of the tools that the internet provides us with; material is widely and quickly accessible, can be remixed, shared, commented on, and critiqued. The book goes on to explain that schools left the apprenticeship model to prepare students for a new and different world and that now universal schooling has ceased preparing students for the world of today. There needs to be a change but what should it be?
I thought the book did a great job in introducing all of the alternatives that people now have to traditional shcooling, like home schooling, workplace learning, distance education, adult education, learning centers, educational television and videos, computer-based learning software, and technical certifications.
I like that the trends in education are putting more responsibility on the learners because I feel that American students need more accountability for themselves and their progress. This trend also allows for learners to customize their educations to be geared toward their individual interests, as the authors point out. I also like that the authors suggest that we need to teach our children how to learn and use the resources around them to their advantage. In such a technological age, we need to teach our students to be responsible in terms of how they use the internet.
The authors point out that the era of life-long learners are dependent on interaction. I understand that interaction is widely possible via the computer and technology but I fear that this generation will lose the ability to interact with others face to face. The authors do acknowledge this point but I feel that they sort of brush it off as not a big deal. This, to me, is a huge deal and one of the biggest downsides to technology. I wished that had looked into this as a more valid point. The authors also argue that the privatization of education (like home schooling) will benefit students because their parents will be able to  guide their children more consistently than teachers can at school. This may be true for some students but those who do not have the support at home will fall even further behind. I think that this argument was not fully thought out by the authors.
Finally, the authors bring up trying out new certification programs rather than the standard curriculum. First, there are far too many interests and paths for this to ever be fully implemented. Also, the certfication systems seem to me to be the core standards that we have, just with a new name. The only real difference is that students would be able to choose when to take the test. I see this, too, as an argument that sounded okay but was not fully thought out.
I did enjoy this book and the opinions of the authors, though I feel many of their suggestions were not thought out enough to be able to be implemented any time soon. I wish the authors had gone the route of thinking on a smaller scale and given practical ideas for the implementation of technology, rather than broad ideas that need to be reworked extensively in hopes for a technological education system in the future.