IT technology has had revolutionary influences on any social aspect, and the education is not exempt from it. Some people claim that the thriving long distance education would take the place of teachers in classes. Personally, I believe this assertion is problematic, because it underestimates certain irreplaceable functions of teachers.
Admittedly, benefits brought by online education should never be ignored. Firstly, distance learning programs based on the Internet feature universal accessibility at all times and places. That is to say, this education mode can help any individual student to build up a flexibly self-paced plan of studying, so that it offers a valuable option for people with special needs, such as the disabled, full time workers or those who have families to take care of and are not able to attend class at regular hours. Another advantage is the relatively less expensive tuition fees of distance programs due to the exclusion of financial cost of campus facilities.
In despite of advantages associated with online education mentioned above, physically attending a school has some intrinsic advantages for the students’ overall development. Obviously, teachers can adjust their teaching styles and their instructions to best suit the characteristics of their students. Moreover, experiments like chemistry and physics requiring practical operation are unavailable on the Internet. Therefore, personal by-hand instruction from the teacher is still the only way for students to master the knowledge.
In addition to academic pursuits, students’ emotional and social development, such as interpersonal skills, can be significantly improved in school due to students’ participation in extra-curricular activities and events. psychologically, a real-world teacher can play a role of mental tutor, who can immediately find and correct misconceptions, wrong ideas and values in the mind of students, as well as giving them encouragement and confidence when they are trapped in frustration and depression, by face-to-face communication.
All in all, even in an age driven by the Internet, the position of teachers in education will still remain, for the reason that computers cannot be expected to surpass the overall quality of education available at a college which provides both knowledge and an environment for students’ overall development.
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