CAOS Weekly Philosophy: High School is so 20th Century.

[Brad Nunnally]

If you search Google for virtual high school you will find some interesting results. I read an article about how in the near future these online high schools will become more popular and eventually make going to school obsolete. Something about this whole notion seems wrong to me. I mean one of the major concerns with kids that spend a lot of their time online to begin with is that they don't develop the social skills need in the real world. Taking kids out of the school room would just could possible put them at a bigger disadvantage.

I mean already there are online colleges popping up everywhere that offer serious degree in a lot of fields. Would you really like a doctor to operate on you that received his MD online? Not to say that these online colleges are a bad thing, there are plenty of people that just don't have time to attend a class. But, school as a whole becoming something totally virtual doesn't seem right.

What do you all, as students, parents, or instructors, think of this growing trend? Is it a good thing for the children of the future? What are some of the possible pros and cons? In the end, the question becomes is the classroom and blackboard outdated?

Brad Ty Nunnally
CAOS Vice-Pres.

 

"When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course."
Peter F. Drucker

[Tyler]

I actually had a discussion about this with my roommate just the other day.  I read on Slashdot that Bill Gates thinks that high schools are obsolete.  I would disagree.

I think high schools serve a greater purpose than filling your mind with useless knowledge.  Sure, you do learn some things which you forget the next semester, but you do something else in high school-you mature.

Do you really think that someone coming out of 8th grade is mature enough for the real world, or even mature enough for college?  I think not.  I matured a great deal through high school, and am the person I am today because of it.  High school (and college both) serve important steps in the development of young people.  They both serve as the stepping stones towards becoming a productive member of society.  Now I will be the first to admit that this is different things to different people, but it's important nonetheless.

I do not think any level of school is obsolete.  I just think that the actual learning of the pythagorean thereom is slightly overrated and more focusing should be put on maturing and finding out who you are and what you're about.

~tfizzle

[DaleDoe]

I think it would further the detrimental effect that larger class size has had on educational quality.  The larger the class, the easier it is to "goof off" and cheat or otherwise "beat the system."  I wonder how someone would google-proof the tests. :-?

I argue that sitting in a large room with dozens of other kids of similar age with minimal supervision doesn't do much to develop "social skills for the real world", either.  Spending time interacting with adults in the "real world" (rather than the artificial world of a "school") develops social skills.  The world of public education creates more of a "Lord of the Flies" scenario, prolonging childish immaturity and delaying the development of skills necessary to interact with the real world in a healthy manner.

I have observed this pattern over several years:  Children who are sent off to "school" during the day and when they get home their parents are too tired/busy to pay them any attention stay quite immature.  In contrast, a friend of mine home-schools his kids, involves them in chores around the house, takes them hunting and fishing, and even to work with him sometimes.  Those kids are as mature and level-headed as a lot of people twice their age.

Whenever kids are too submersed in an artifical environment--school, computers, video games, etc. they don't learn how to effectively deal with the real world.

I also matured a lot in the years I attended high school, but it wasn't due to "school", though.  It was due to me getting a real job, a car, becoming an "entrepreneur" on the side, etc.  "Real-world" activities. 8-)

[Jerry]

Regardless of how many different virtual meeting tools online courses or programs use they have yet to reproduce the qualitative experience of a physical, brick & mortor class. The experience I'm talking about goes beyond just the socail aspects (though that is an important aspect). I'm refereing to the fact that you have 15 to 30 people who are in the same place thinking and discussing the same concepts. A class room for a good instructor can provide the opportunity to spark converstation and discussion that extends the learning experience beyond just reading and regurgitation.

I try to capture some of this in CS 321 with group and class discussions (sometimes I feel successful, sometimes not, but I try). The overall classroom experience should be more than just listening to a lecture. Sometimes a lecture is called for to explain concepts, but other times the class room should be an opportunity to spark imagination, brain storm ideas, and promote debate & discussion.

Until technology can reproduce this quality it is unlikely that brick & mortar High Schools and Universities will go the way of the dino's.

[The_ME]

Skip high school and go to college instead. In high school you spend four years finding new friends, taking classes you don't like, and deciding what you want to do in college. In college you spend four years finding new friends, taking classes you like, and figuring out what you want to do after college. It's repeating 4 years of your life over.