should schools turn to a technology school or a normal school

1. "They don't have the money but..."The major reason the school systems don't have much money on hand is due to the enormous spending to make the classroom "fun". This includes some technology already integrated into education - computers, for example. And SmartBoards. But I don't think that simply spending more money is going to the solve the problems with the education system."Finally, although the US spends a considerable amount of money on education relative to Japan, much of the funds that are appropriated are used for things other than academics. These include funds for transportation, food, athletics and custodians as well as money for programs such as D.A.R.E. In fact, as much as 40% of US curricula is devoted to nonacademic subjects (Abbeduto 380). In contrast, most Japanese students walk or ride their bikes to school and many traditional Japanese schools even have students clean the school at the end of each day. Furthermore, although students in Japan do participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports after school, most are only allowed o choose one club. Additionally, most students who are considering college perceive such activities as a hindrance to their chances of passing the entrance exams that will pave the way to their success (Johnson 1996)." -http://sitemaker.umich.edu...; This paragraph states my feelings exactly. Japan offers a no-frills education, and they are much higher than us academically. The US has tried to take shortcuts and increase federal funding for education - to afford things like IPads. Yet the system is failing. I don't think spending more money to make the classroom "fun" is the key to improving the education system. 2. "they have fundraisers that can help the school with money..."This would only promote wealthier students. This would not benefit students who are poorer in the least. Let me explain. Having a fundraiser sounds great. But, how about those students who live in the poorer sections of town? How about those students who's neighbors are all poverty-ridden? Yet, the wealthier student lives in an area that is affluent. His/her neighbors can afford to donate to this fund. Allowing for a fundraiser to take place will only allow a certain amount of kids to contribute, which results in not being able to afford technology for everybody. Having a fundraiser sounds like a great solution, but not everyone would be able to contribute. In the end, the school would not have adequate funds to afford this swanky technology. And how about schools that all students live in poverty? How on Earth on they supposed to contribute? One of the things that betters the Japanese education system is allowing all students to study from the same material: "The first, and most significant way, is that Japanese schools incorporate a national curriculum created by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Thus, unlike the educational system in the United States, in which each state determines its own curriculum, the federal government decides on what each school must teach, how to teach it, and even what books to teach it with. Therefore, there are many implications for such a disparity in educational structure. For American schools, the fact that each state can come up with their own curriculum means that states have autonomy as well as responsibility for what each student learns. Consequently, each state can then implement curricula in schools based on the resources available to each state and what the state feels is the most important for its students to learn. However, the major problem with this system is the fact that the resources, namely money, available to each state and district varies so much that students across the country receive vastly different qualities of education." - http://sitemaker.umich.edu... What I am trying to say is that we need to allow students to study from the same material - something cheap enough for everyone to afford. Allowing some students to have technology and some others not will result in a huge gap in education - not only between states and local districts, but also between race, gender, finical status, etc. Allowing this to take place will expand the gap that is already in place between race, gender, finical status, etc.Allowing technology in education will cut trimmed budgets, allow students to "have it easier" (which has proved to be a failure, as the US education system has fallen significantly behind) and will allow for a much larger gap between race, gender, finical status, etc. if fundraisers pay for this type of education.