"A Teacher That Can Be Replaced by a Machine Should Be"

In an excellent lecture Sugat Mitra gave in 2010, he showed how groups of children could use computers to learn fairly complex materials completely on their own with no teacher input! Upon hearing about this, Arthur C. Clarke commented: "A teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be." I say "Amen" to this! Let the machine teach the child as quickly and efficiently as possible and thereby free up the teacher to do what no machine could ever do: inspire, motivate, acknowledge, support, and cheer the children on. The teacher would provide the guidance on what it is the children need to learn and then shepherd them as they hone their skills of critical thinking and inquiry. Meanwhile, the teacher could be teaching other skills for living such as learning how to build community, work collaboratively, and resolve conflicts.

In a video entitled "The Machine is Us/ing Us," Professor Michael Wesch describes how the internet is enabling us to rapidly connect with information and even modify it to meet our personal needs and share with others. For me, the provocative idea here is that information--and even reality-- is relative. I can find "truth" that I want to find no matter how unhinged that "truth" may be. The implications for teaching are tremendous. What's important to know? Where does the important information reside? "Who" decides the "correct" version of important information? These questions lead me to conclude that today's students must be taught to be critical thinkers!

These two videos show us a vision of the future--one in which students are finding information rather than having it spoon fed to them. It's an interesting juxtaposition to the trend today of scripted curriculum and high-stakes testing of knowledge, rather than thinking.