You take inspiration where you find it...

It's funny where you find inspiration.

I am not a big fan of beauty pageants. When I was a boy, the Miss America pageant was a really big deal. (Yes, I'm that old). My family and I would crowd around our Zenith for 2 plus prime-time hours and eagerly await for Burt Parks to say the magic words:

"And the title goes to..."

People may forget, but when Vanessa Williams won the Miss America pageant back in 1983, that was almost as big a deal then as Barack Obama is now. That might sound incredulous, but it's true. For decades, the Miss America pageant was as much a part of Americana and American folklore as baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet.

But that was a long time ago. The Miss America pageant has been relegated to cable television and beauty pageants now seem, I don't know, strangely out of place. Young women parading around in poofed up hair and bathing suits, while not the worst thing in the world, seems kind of dated; passe.

That said, I was kind of intrigued when I opened my web browser this morning and read the headline: "It's Blogger vs. Beauty in Gay Marriage Tiff." I thought...alrighty now. This should be interesting. So I read the article.

Apparently, during Sunday night's Miss USA competition, Perez Hilton (a pageant judge) asked Carrie Prejean, Miss California, a question about her views on same-sex marriage. She answered that it was "great" that the option is available in some states, but that "in my country and in my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman -- no offense to anyone out there."

Prejean later told Fox News that "God was testing my character and faith" by making her answer the controversial question in front of such a large audience. She reinforces her point by telling Fox that "I have nothing against gay people and I didn't mean to offend anyone in my answer."

Prejean also went on to state that she believes her comment on gay marriage "cost me my crown," but she "wouldn't have had it any other way. I said what I feel."

Following suit, Hilton appeared on MSNBC as well as CNN's 'Larry King Live,' arguing against Prejean's point of view. Following the show, he called her a "dumb b----" on his Twitter page, and though he apologized for it, later rescinded the apology.

My first thought after reading the article was to think that Hilton overreacted a bit. He asked a question, it was answered politely and respectfully (albeit in a manner he did not like) and that was that. He had the right to disagree with her answer, but to get personal, to attack the person, I thought was a bit out of bounds.

That's just my opinion.

And as I moved through the day, the more I thought about this young lady and her answer, and the more I thought...Right on, Miss California. NOT because I agreed with the substance of her answer (I'm not touching that issue here; wrong place, wrong time) but because she stuck to her convictions and said what she believed when she had to know, given who was asking the question, that her answer would not be well-received.

That took guts.

And I think there's a lesson in that for those of us in education technology.

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This is, by turns, an exciting and trying time. What we are trying to do in our respective spheres of influence; to integrate technology into our curriculum and classrooms, to change deep-seeded pedagogical practices, to usher in something new, is a very, very difficult thing to do in education. There have been times when I will readily admit that I find myself mired in frustration. I have never ever in my professional career encountered a system so mired in its traditions and so institutionally resistant to change.

Do you sometimes feel as though you’re baying into the wind? I do. Do you sometimes feel completely alone? I have. Do you sometimes feel as though your ideas are merely tolerated, but not embraced, by your peers and colleagues? I have often felt that way.

So what keeps me going?

I find comfort and inspiration in these words:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Theodore Roosevelt

What keeps me going is faith.

It is my fundamental and passionate belief, it is my faith, that we are on the right side of the educational equation. Modern interactive technologies, when used in a pedagogically sound manner, are the most powerful tools for teaching and learning ever invented. But more than that, technology is the great equalizer. It knows no bias. It does not discriminate; it takes no account of race, faith or gender. It simply allows the user to access, learn, and ultimately, to create. To that end, it renders the limitations imposed by time, space, scarcity and lack almost irrelevant. When fully integrated and equitably available, technology allows 21st century schools to be what they are ideally supposed to be—an avenue to the American Dream for all children.

So, yes, to that degree it is about the technology.

Let’s call it like it is.

Let’s stop apologizing for being advocates of technology integration and talking about technology by talking around technology. Let’s be clear about what we believe and why. Let's fight the fight that needs to be fought, head on, with courage, conviction and clarity of purpose.

Tell the world what you believe.

I'll go first.

I believe that every child in every school should have ubiquitous, one-to-one access to technology.

I believe that technology should be fully integrated into our curriculum and classrooms; not to replace but to augment and support current learning strategies.

I believe that there is a time, place and undeniable value to lecture-based instruction. But I also believe in student-driven, constructivist learning and believe that constructivist, project-based instruction should be integrated into our core curriculum and not relegated to special projects.

I believe that the "either/or" dichotomies that have plagued efforts at education reform are just silly. The presence of technology does not mean the end of books, art, talking or teachers and people who raise that red flag need to stop.

I believe that basic skill proficiency is critical, especially in high poverty and minority communities, because basic skills are the building blocks of all knowledge. But too narrow or singular a focus on basic skills, and assessments which merely reward the ability to ram, remember and regurgitate, do not prepare our children to compete and succeed in the world as it exists now.

I believe that public education has failed a generation of children, especially poor, black and inner-city children. The drop out rate in our 50 largest cities is stunning; tragic. I'm not faulting individuals. The problems are systemic.

I believe that teachers, on the whole, get a raw deal. We hand you chalk, recycled textbooks and maybe a functioning overhead projector and then expect you to engage a generation of "fast twitch" kids who live in a world "fueled by technology, knowledge and innovation." Then we blame you because our educational outcomes are not up to par. That strikes me as fundamentally unfair.

That said, I have not lost hope.

I believe that our strength and resiliency as a nation revolves around our extraordinary ability for change. As a nation, we have shown, time and time again, that we can change, that we can stop, that we can dig our heels in the metaphorical sand and say...

No more.

And so it will be with education.

It may take my lifetime, but we will reform our schools. I truly believe that. (How we get there is a topic for another day). But I also believe that ubiquitous access to technology should be an integral part of school reform. Technology should be as accessible to children inside of our schools as it is outside of our schools and in virtually ever other facet of our daily lives. So if asked, I am staunchly pro-technology, and my mission from now until the day I retire (or until I'm fired for writing blogs that link beauty pageants and education technology) is to help schools acquire the technology they need and then use that technology in a pedagogically sound manner. I know not everyone agrees with that, technology integration is a hot-button topic, but that's cool.

Because sometimes, you just have to step up, stand up, and let the world know what you believe.

Come what may.

So well done Carrie Prejean. Well done. You may have lost a crown. But in my book, you're a winner.