Editor’s Note

High tech allows us to be better users, researchers and providers of information, broadening our 21st century learning horizons. 

High touch, however, inspires us.

Plugged In with Purpose is the topic of this issue’s cover story. We rely on being connected so students become better learners, and teachers even better teachers.

Yet megabytes and flash drives are not where we find the heart and soul of the ‘Iolani community. What makes the difference between a good school and a great school is its people. What matters most is the human touch.

While teacher Kam Monaco ’87 praises the ability of blogs to open lines of communication between him and students, he also notes that many positive aspects of teaching can never be replaced by technology. Those include simple things like telling a student face-to-face that she was great in the school play or talking with another student about his family trip during Christmas break.

“It may seem like a cliché,” Monaco says, “but just being able to say, ‘Hi’ and ‘How’s it going?’ is so important and something that you can’t do with technology.”

Some of the most meaningful moments about school are still done in tried, true and traditional ways.

Seniors, for example, nowadays submit their college applications online. (Parents submit applications for financial aid through the Internet too.) Yet these college-bound teens still need to think clearly and write passionately about real experiences in their young lives when composing those all important college essays. Their laptops may be able to perform spell checks, but they still need to analyze, synthesize, and convey a strong, original message.

Membership in social networking communities may be booming, allowing us to reconnect and stay in touch faster, more frequently, and around the clock, but there’s nothing like going to your ‘Iolani class reunion years after graduating to relive those glorious or not-so-glorious years. Seeing photos on Facebook of your long, lost classmates cannot compare to getting together in person, whether dancing to the Bee Gees at Rumours or teeing off in Las Vegas.

During the school year, Kimi Yasunaga-Frith ’93 is one of many teachers who lead community service projects that offer students opportunities to learn more about people and the world around them. Students read and write about the plight of tsunami victims in Samoa and the Philippines by logging on to the Internet. However, holding something as simple as a bake sale gives youths a hands-on project that deepens their sense of humanity and compassion. 

Membership in social networking communities may be booming, allowing us to reconnect and stay in touch faster, more frequently and around the clock, but there’s nothing like going to your ‘Iolani class reunion years after graduating to relive those glorious or not-so-glorious years.

In November, the psychology class, seventh grade geography classes, Economics & Social Entrepreneurship classes, the Filipino Club, Youth Leadership Club, Leo Club, and the girls varsity tennis team baked and sold brownies, mochi, muddy buddies, party mix, cupcakes and more to raise nearly $3,000 for disaster victims. The Red Cross Club also collected boxes of clothing and undergarments. On Thanksgiving Day, ‘Iolani’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes volunteered at the Institute of Human Services by preparing and serving hundreds of meals for the homeless.

The experience of working side-by-side  classmates cannot be replaced by technology, though web sites created to share the purpose of their projects enhance the same experience. (Besides, there is no substitute for homemade cookies at a school bake sale.)

Technology moves learning forward. The human touch is the reason learning matters.

- Cathy Lee Chong

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