The cowboy saddled up on his horse which he named Old Speedy.  Every morning the cowboy would saddle up and make a trip into town. For years, equestrian travel had been the superior mode of transportation. But as communities grew and people began to move cross country, traveling long distances by horse became obsolete. One day when he was traveling, out of nowhere appeared a metal box with four wheels attached. Upon entering the next town, the cowboy encountered the gentleman who was driving the strange contraption. He looked at the driver and said, “Your machine may travel faster, but I bet that box isn’t as dependable as Old Speedy.” He continued, “You spend big bucks to keep that piece of metal moving, while Old Speedy lives off the land.”

Our world is changing at an alarming rate. We should not focus on the cost of change, but we should ask ourselves, what will happen if we refuse to change? If we are going to continue to be relevant we must embrace technological advances. Two events made this past week very exciting. The first event was the unfolding of the $87 million dollars that has been allocated to the Black Belt for broadband infrastructure.  This is a major investment that will eliminate the digital divide and create the necessary digital interstate for social and economic development.

The second event, “The Great Freight Challenge,” took place at Wallace Community College. This affair included local middle and high schools as well as schools of neighboring counties. WCCS gymnasium was filled with teenagers cheering and celebrating, not for a sporting event, but all in the name of technology. This excitement for technology revealed so much about their future.

There are those who, like the cowboy, depend on Old Speedy. They advocate keeping hard copies on file because they fear losing information if the computer were to crash; but they fail to ask, what will happen to the hard copies if the building burns down? Technology offers the ability to store unlimited amounts of information in an efficient manner. Paper textbooks are like Old Speedy in comparison to reading via IPad, Kindle, or Nook. Although there is an upfront cost, millions of dollars are saved over time. If used instead of the traditional paper textbook, this type of technology will allow our students to upload digital textbooks for pennies.   Old Speedy has his place, but in order to equip our children for the future we must embrace technology.