sideviews
We, not technology, revolutionise education – Joshua Law
A lot of urban students think that the role of computers and mobile phones in education are bigger than schools. Well, frankly speaking, it is pretty much becoming a ubiquitous perception in society. Students rather sleep during classes when they can’t stand the monotonous tone of boring teachers and decided to let Google and Wikipedia do the teaching at home. The role of teachers in education has been superceded by technology. We, the human race created computers and mobile phones to help us in life, but now they have dominated every aspect of our lives, including education. Irony much?
Yes, we can’t deny bona fide those technological advancements such as e-learning and online classes have brought education standards up to another level, but there are certain essential aspects of education we might leave out in the process of modernisation. First, let me begin with a simple question – what is education? Is it just about memorizing facts and scoring in exams? I believe not.
Education is dynamic, multi-perspective and versatile. One must think out of the box in order to truly educate himself. If you have a cube in your hands, do you know if it is a cube or a square if you look at it in a two-dimensional plane? Now what happens if you look at in a 3-dimensional plane? In the modern day, online videos can explain a certain topic more easily. Well, it is better if you can view how your digestive systems work, how a grasshopper hops and other science stuff in videos instead of motionless pictures in textbooks.
But, would spoonfeeding ourselves with all this information help us learn? Graphic stimuli is another aspect of education. For example, when we see pictures of the movements of the earthworm in different stages, we allow ourselves to envisage the motion, as though our brain is solving a puzzle, piecing all the pictures together. This, will increase our imagination and creativity because our brain will work more than if we just view the entire thing in videos. So, would you rather spoon-feed yourselves with videos or allow your brain to do the work looking at pictures in textbooks? Your choice, dear students.
“A great teacher takes a hand, opens a mind and touches a heart”. Can a computer or a mobile phone do that? Well, no of course. The role of a teacher is much more than just teaching students, their primary role is to encourage the students to learn, provide an interesting learning environment and facilitate the process of education among students. The modus operandi of education is the social bridge between a student and a teacher.
This is the core aspect of education that has since existed ages ago but until today, it is still relevant in our society. A teacher guides a student through his learning, gives rebukes and criticisms and at the same time encouraging and inspiring his or her students to achieve greater heights. No computer or any other technological gadget can do this. In fact, using computers to replace teachers will prove to be disastrous, if it ever happens in the future. The classroom model of how education works is still the best and most suitable way for education to work.
Now, I’m not stating that everyone should stop using YouTube, Wikipedia or Google for help, but people should stop looking at a future with computers as teachers.
Technology cannot revolutionise education but it can only cause the evolution of education. Teachers and students should continue to put emphasis in the “classroom” process of education, and stop using computers for video lessons excessively. With all the technological advancements in the educational sector, I strongly urge the government to put a strict balance between the work of producing experienced teachers and improving the IT infrastructure of Malaysian schools.
“Men are not creatures of circumstances, but circumstances creatures of men.”
We have the power to defy societal pressure, and we have the power to revolutionise education in our country, not technology. – February 18, 2016.
*Joshua Law reads The Malaysian Insider.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
Please note that you must sign up with disqus.com before commenting. And, please refrain from comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature and note that comments can be edited, rewritten for clarity or to avoid questionable issues. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments