This Halloween, a capitalist in sheep’s clothing by the name of Salman Khan published an article claiming the key to educational reform is switching to an online video format that will educate the masses. While I am open-minded to the freedoms and scams this country allows, I can only give a solemn warning to future generations when a fool looking to sell out and make a quick buck tampers with the foundation of the American educational system.
In his online article “YouTube U. Beats YouSnooze U.,” Khan makes the analogy that the current educational system is much like “assembly lines – lecture, problem set, exam- with no quality control.” But I’m sure students would appreciate a Ludovico style of education much less, especially when The Computer Journal publishes a report using research done around 23-25 years ago explaining that reading from visual display units has a negative effect on speed, accuracy and retention when compared to print on paper. Subjects in the experiment also reported higher levels of fatigue in shorter amounts of reading time.
Not to mention, every student knows that “movie days” in class are the best chances during the term to catch up on hours of missed sleep. And if they are home with no one to wake them up, who is going to stop them from sleeping through the whole lesson?
Receiving an education at home not only leaves students at risk for never having a reason to leave their parent’s basement, but also exposes them to the myriad distractions such as TV, video games, the Internet, making food, recreational drug use, talking to housemates or family, as well as household projects and chores. The strength of schools is that they are environments established to provide students with resources to further their education, such as computer labs, tutoring centers, libraries and counselors.
Instructors also use these collections of resources to further their own research and make the breakthrough discoveries that propel industries. Switching to 100 percent online classes not only puts the nation’s bright, independent minds out of a job and into the hands of DuPont and Halliburton think tanks, but the entire support staffs that keep universities alive will be put onto the streets or marginalized elsewhere.
Mass production of education onto a limited variety of DVDs could lead to a new era of information control. The private benefactors for this YouTube U., such as Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, add a shady corporate element to this issue and bring into question whether this educational format will consider the plethora of opinions, teaching styles, wisdom and experiences that each instructor who walks the earth offers. Or, will this just be another way for the rich to get richer and the poor to get dumber. As the records show, if a for-profit organization can cut costs and maximize production, it will.
Aside from the ways the classroom makes things more personable from a student-instructor standpoint, most people make lifelong friends while working with other students. When the instructor can’t connect the lesson to a personal impact for students, who do you turn to? In my experience and through observation, it is usually one of the four people surrounding the immediate area. Have you ever tried asking a DVD or an Internet video to explain things from a different angle? The best one can get is the director’s commentary or unreliable interpretive comments made at the bottom of the webpage.
If the obvious holes can be worked out, then Khan may have a viable scheme. Meanwhile, I will be in my back yard digging a bunker waiting for Skynet to become self-aware.
