Personalized Learning, part-time faculty and an end to education
If you're not a teacher or have never worked in a school, you may read this editorial and say, "Eh, so what?" But parents, let's be honest. Think about the amount of time YOU yourself waste when on a computer or a personal device. Or think about how annoyed you get when your child ignores your questions about their day because they're scrolling through Facebook or texting their friends or Snapchatting a pic of the dog instead of making eye contact with you for 30 seconds.
Not to say we're here yet, but imagine that your kid is supposed to "learn" by sitting in front of a computer all day. In this scenario, all tenured teachers were fired, and in their stead, the school district purchased personal devices (laptops, let's say) and an online curriculum for each student. Then part-time assistants were hired to ensure your student stayed on task. How do you think your child's learning experience would change?
Part of the public school experience IS the social experience. As a teacher, I can tell you that more than just learning historical content knowledge happens on a daily basis in my room.Even at a high school level, students learn how to: manage their time, advocate for themselves by asking questions and/or asserting their opinions, listen to the thoughts of others and respond in a constructive way, practice social etiquette by sharing space with other people and of course they also learn the particulars of the content for the day. Sure, my students could go home, read the textbook or article and then do some online exercises that are graded via an online program. From that, I could tell that either they have good reading comprehension skills or that they're adept at cheating off of a classmate. What I cannot tell is how they feel about the information, what questions they have regarding it, and how they'd apply their knowledge in particular scenarios.
If you're not a teacher or have never worked in a school, you may read this editorial and say, "Eh, so what?" But parents, let's be honest. Think about the amount of time YOU yourself waste when on a computer or a personal device. Or think about how annoyed you get when your child ignores your questions about their day because they're scrolling through Facebook or texting their friends or Snapchatting a pic of the dog instead of making eye contact with you for 30 seconds.
Not to say we're here yet, but imagine that your kid is supposed to "learn" by sitting in front of a computer all day. In this scenario, all tenured teachers were fired, and in their stead, the school district purchased personal devices (laptops, let's say) and an online curriculum for each student. Then part-time assistants were hired to ensure your student stayed on task. How do you think your child's learning experience would change?
Part of the public school experience IS the social experience. As a teacher, I can tell you that more than just learning historical content knowledge happens on a daily basis in my room.Even at a high school level, students learn how to: manage their time, advocate for themselves by asking questions and/or asserting their opinions, listen to the thoughts of others and respond in a constructive way, practice social etiquette by sharing space with other people and of course they also learn the particulars of the content for the day. Sure, my students could go home, read the textbook or article and then do some online exercises that are graded via an online program. From that, I could tell that either they have good reading comprehension skills or that they're adept at cheating off of a classmate. What I cannot tell is how they feel about the information, what questions they have regarding it, and how they'd apply their knowledge in particular scenarios.
Think about the situation in this sense - would you entrust your neighbor to watch your toddler while you were at work at an unauthorized day care they were running in their home? You might have to if you had no other options. But DO you have other options? Would you feel safe dropping your 2 year old off in a room with 10 other children and one attendant, your neighbor, for 8 hours? Would you feel more comfortable if the daycare had more than one attendant? Or if there was a set schedule for the day? Or if you knew your neighbor had a teacher certification? If s/he had CPR and first aid certification?
Does the human connection have a cost? The answer simply is yes.
Of course, full time faculty cost more in some respects- like in NJ, maybe your property taxes are higher. But what benefits are there to skimping out on the future of America? Cheapest isn't always best.
Does the human connection have a cost? The answer simply is yes.
Of course, full time faculty cost more in some respects- like in NJ, maybe your property taxes are higher. But what benefits are there to skimping out on the future of America? Cheapest isn't always best.
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