Right of refusal

I've blogged about this before:

• Key question
• The aggregate impact of individual choices
• If you took away technology

but can anyone else think of an employment sector other than K-12 and postsecondary education where employees have the right to refuse to use technology?

For example, a grocery store checker doesn't get to say 'No thanks, I don't think I'll use a register.' A stockbroker doesn't get to say, 'No thanks, I don't think I'll use a computer.' An architect doesn't get to say, 'No thanks, I don't think I'll use AutoCAD.' But in education, we plead and implore and incentivize but we never seem to require.

In many industries, knowledge of relevant technologies is a necessary prerequisite for either getting or keeping one's job. Sometimes the organization provides training; sometimes the employee is expected to get it on her own. Either way, the expectation is that use of the relevant technologies is a core condition of employment.

Why aren't our school organizations expecting more of their employees? Are we that desperate for workers?