If We Didn’t Have the Schools We Have Today, Would We Create the Schools We Have Today?

This is a tricky question -not a trick question, in my opinion. This article has many good points but there is alot more to this than meets the eye - we can also ask if we didn't have the big American businesses and corporations which employ many Americans in buildings on Wall Street or Madison Avenue - would we have them today? Would we pay rent and high salaries to American workers or would we use technology to out source some more American jobs? How many Americans are losing their jobs because technology made it possible? How many people lost their jobs - educated and have many years experience in their professions because it is cheaper to get help in abroad? Please see http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1887779,00.html and find out what IBM has done to its United States employees. IBM - one of the biggest computer/technology companies in the world is beginning to fail its American employees.

What will the consequences be for the new generation of Americans if we eliminate schools as we know them? What should replace our schools - our building filled with classrooms and children interacting with one another and getting a good sold education? Well - we can replace our schools with condo's and have everyone educated in their own homes on their lap tops. We can have a society where no one interacts in a classroom environment - where each student logs on to a computer and your teacher comes up on your screen via video conferencing. There will be no formal assessment, limited social interaction and if you have to answer a question - you must change your color tab to yellow or red. There will be no verbal discussion - just alot of typing - students will not learn the art of handwriting or how to spell - they can type and use spell check.
Are we setting the stage for a future implosion ?

I am not, in any way, against technology - and I understand it is here with much more to come - I am very capable of understanding most aspects and worked in many years in the computer industry but I tend to wonder about the pros and the cons. I am enjoying this course - where there are limited in class meetings - but this course warrants this type of teaching - it is a technology course where much is done independently on the computer. However, I don't think this an online course would have applied to any of the computer science courses - programming courses - that I took for my undergraduate degree - I actually needed interaction with my professors.

Granted we should infuse technology into the curriculum, include more hybrid classes, etc. but when and where is the line drawn? I don't know any of these answers - I just wonder what will be in store for our children and grandchildren! Yes, technology is here to stay and its effect on our lives is not measureable - but at what point will it's effect be detrimental?