There are some today who would argue that the internet has sufficiently supplanted the role of traditional education so as to make it redundant. In my opinion, though the internet opens up possibilities for learning, schools are a crucial filter.
What separates the internet from how other advances in technology have impacted education is greater accessibility to information. It is no exaggeration to claim that nearly everything can be found on the internet. School age children can access educational videos on YouTube, read online articles and use interactive learning platforms. As they get older, the possibilities expand and include scholarly articles, video-conferencing platforms like Zoom, and online newspapers from every country in the world that can be translated to your native language in modern internet browsers. There is immense potential for auto-didacts and parents who choose to homeschool.
Nonetheless, schools are the real world editors of the internet. A lot of news is thrown up instantly and not carefully vetted. This means that students can get led into dark corners such as alt-left and right websites that specialise in sensationalised propaganda. Children and teens are especially susceptible to what they read online as they might be less skeptical. Teachers have more life experience and their training helps them approach information critically. They can then pass these skills on to their pupils by teaching them how to read closely, spot biases, and check information through a number of primary and secondary sources. Without teachers, students are more likely to be indoctrinated rather than educated.
In conclusion, teachers are important to dispel the inherent risks of unreliable online information. Schools and administrators ought to take a long-view in order to assess the value of the internet for learning.
There are
some
today
who would argue that the internet has
sufficiently
supplanted the role of traditional education
so as to
make
it redundant. In my opinion, though the internet opens up possibilities for learning,
schools
are a crucial filter.
What separates the internet from how other advances in technology have impacted education is greater accessibility to
information
. It is no exaggeration to claim that
nearly
everything can
be found
on the internet.
School
age children can access educational videos on YouTube, read
online
articles and
use
interactive learning platforms. As they
get
older, the possibilities expand and include
scholarly
articles, video-conferencing platforms like Zoom, and
online
newspapers from every country in the world that can
be translated
to your native language in modern internet browsers. There is immense potential for
auto-didacts
and parents who choose to homeschool.
Nonetheless,
schools
are the real world editors of the internet.
A lot of
news
is thrown
up
instantly
and not
carefully
vetted. This means that students can
get
led into dark corners such as alt-
left
and right websites that
specialise
in
sensationalised
propaganda. Children and teens are
especially
susceptible to what they read
online
as they might be less skeptical. Teachers have more life experience and their training
helps
them approach
information
critically
. They can then pass these
skills
on to their pupils by teaching them how to read
closely
, spot biases, and
check
information
through a number of primary and secondary sources. Without teachers, students are more likely to
be indoctrinated
rather
than educated.
In conclusion
, teachers are
important
to dispel the inherent
risks
of unreliable
online
information
.
Schools
and administrators ought to take a long-view in order to assess the value of the internet for learning.