Imagine a country plunged into a dark age of science, in which the use of technology is not supported by the government. Imagine a world in which the education of technology is overlooked. Both scenarios could become reality if Cambridge follows through with their threat to shut down MIT. My name is Iris Burson, an 8th grade student at Barrington Middle School and I am against this ridiculous notion. Regardless of town reasons, Cambridge's prestigious technological institute should not be shut down. Without the necessary knowledge MIT provides, the resilience of humanitarian operations would decrease, local health care would falter, and daily life would be dramatically hindered.
To begin, MIT should not be shut down because of the effect it would have on humanitarian operations. According to The Express Tribune, a smaller newspaper derived from the International New York Times, "technologies such as mobile phones, social media satellite imagery, and the internet provide disaster-affected communities with newer ways to organize, coordinate, and respond to the problems they face." This quote refers to the fact that technology is very much required in order to help people affected by hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Without the knowledge to operate said devices, due to a lack of training, the resilience of humanitarian responses to natural disasters would decrease. Furthermore, the closing of MIT would result in the quality of local healthcare to diminish. "Widespread use of health IT within the healthcare industry improves the quality of health care, prevents medical errors, reduces healthcare costs, increases administrative efficiencies, decreases paperwork, and expands access to affordable health care." This quote from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services website, hhs.gov, explains that without technology there would be a dramatic difference in services provided to consumers. How would modern day hospitals function without the knowledge of how to operate CT scanners, X-Ray equipment, and anesthesia trolleys? This quote and this question go hand in hand. Without technological institutes like MIT, that question would no longer be a "what if?" scenario. Moreover, MIT should not be shut down because of the effect it would have on daily operations. The general definition of technology as given by dictionary.com, is "the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science." In a simpler sense technology is information on anything that man makes for his benefit out of resources available, in order to make tasks simpler to perform. At MIT it is taught how to use such information to benefit the community. Students at MIT learn what is necessary to create technology such as computers, smartphones, and medical machines. Without the
