I wanted to give an opinion to an article I read regarding what Bill Gates said about education and the impact technology will have on it.
You can find the article here http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/06/bill-gates-education/
It is a short article, but brings about what could be in the future for our kids. Here is a snippet of the article
“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world,” Gates said at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA today. “It will be better than any single university,” he continued. (Siegler)
I have two lovely children that are 2 1/2 and 4 months old. Last night my wife and I got on the topic of education in our nation. Our public school system is pretty much a joke. And before any of you involved in the public education system start criticizing me about it, mind you I have 3 members in my family and other friends involved in it. Our teachers get paid crap for the hours and BS they need to put up with. I told my wife by the time our 2 1/2 year old gets to high school, I wonder if there will even be high school? My guess is, there probably will be. Reason for it, is that it provides a great way to be social and interact with people that are not like you. It also provides social skills that a kid will need in the future, regardless of what career path they choose. Now for me personally, the education you get in high school is weak and doesn't really mean much. If I had to do it again I think I would have taken more college classes my junior and senior year in high school, because high school education is nothing. Could I have just chosen to get a GED and take a college placement test? Probably, but then I would have missed out on the social aspect.
Now, you could say that Bill Gates is mentioning that in 5 years Univerisities will be less important. If you see it like this, I can see this happening. He mentions that people will be able to find lectures online from professors. I have witnessed this first hand via a PlayOn Script for the software PlayOn. I'm not sure if the script has been updated but I was able to watch lectures online from professers through out the U.S. These were anything from electricity to biology to mathematics. Even though I finished my college career 4 years ago I still found them interesting and beneficial.
Now imagine a kid who is self-motivated. He/she will be able to learn anything they would want on the web through lectures, research and studies. The web is a very powerful tool for someone who is self-motivated. I myself have learned a lot from the web. Hence, why I try to provide whatever knowledge I have on this blog.
Because of the web, I was able to build a 12ft x 12ft shed from scratch. I read about foundations, dimensions, material, types, tools needed, etc... In the end, my shed was built and it's standing strong. Keep in mind I had no previous knowledge of framing or any type of construction. The most I did before that was yard work. In addition, I was able to build a built-in-bbq. Again, I found images, schematics, ideas, other peers who had done it and blogged about it, etc... Again, In the end, I constructed a frame, applied stucco, laid tile and grouted it. Now my built-in-bbq works and is good to go!
I bring up those tasks I accomplished because I believe Bill Gates is right. Somehow we need to acknowledge those people out there educating themselves online. Unfortunately, as of today, the only way to measure someones education is through a piece of paper and transcript provided by the college and high schools.
Personally, what I would love to see is more technology in the K-12 area of schooling. I know this is a far fecthed idea. Imagine the teachers (who for the most part are excellent individuals and care about our children) being able to use technology to get ideas across to the kids. Imagine being able to have your classroom watch a lecture from some other teacher in a different high school. This would give the kids a different perspective on what their teacher is giving them. Imagine an 8th grader watching a high school class for 2 days. This would give them the ability to prepare for what may be coming. What about 7th or 8th graders participating in high school classes from their own Junior High/Middle school. The possibilites could be endless if thought about correctly. With the end result being a better education for the child, but yet still learning those social skills that are needed. Maybe some of this is already going to today, but it would be great if it became a standard.
On the other hand, will the public education system just completely fail and the choice will be to send the majority of the children to charter schools or provide home school?
Then you can bring up the point about cost for charter schools and college. To Bill Gates point, you can educate yourself with a computer and about $50 a month (price today for a decent bandwidth connection). For those that can't afford a computer and $50 a month, they can go to the public library and use their internet and computer systems for free or a very low cost.
It goes back to self-motivation. Why would a kid spend hundreds of dollars on a text book when he/she can find the same, if not better, information on the Internet. Why spend thousands and thousands of dollars on education when lectures are free online?
"He believes that no matter how you came about your knowledge, you should get credit for it. Whether it’s an MIT degree or if you got everything you know from lectures on the web, there needs to be a way to highlight that." (Siegler)
Lets think about the work place now. We would like to have our college degrees on our resume because it shows we went through the work. Will this matter though in 10-20 years? I don't think it will. Think about who is hiring employees today. Most likely people in their 40-60's. Think about the technology they had back then when they were growing up. It was nothing compared to what we have today. I think it would be difficult for them to grasp the power of education from the Internet. Maybe that's why they think having a college degree is so important. Maybe they think that is the only true way somebody can get an education.
I would also like to make a point that those people hiring individuals 10-20 years from now are most likely not going to be stupid enough to hire an individual who is not fit for the position (although it does happend from time to time) regardless of their education background. I believe those individuals hiring 10-20 years from now will understand a traditional college degree does not weigh as much as it does today.
What about those people getting a Masters? Maybe in the future, lectures will be pieced together from professors around the world providing their knowledge to those who either paid a subscription fee or maybe some professors provided them for free. The possibilities are endless with technology.
In the end I agree with Bill Gates about college needing to be less "placed-based" (Siegler). With technology, education is all around us and we need to figure out how to acknowledge those who have obtained an education not through a traditional college environment.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds regarding education. Since I love technology I hope to see it play a bigger part with education.
Thanks for getting through my disorganized thoughts! :) And yes, I'm sure this is not a perfectly written blog post, but I wanted to get my thoughts out there
Resources:
Siegler: MG Siegler, http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/06/bill-gates-education, Aug 6, 2010
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