11/1/13

Post 6 - The Classroom is Obsolete!

The article that I chose was about the classroom being an out of date model that should be abolished and so on. By all means, read it and form your own opinion, but I completely disagree with the writer. I agree that given the technology available to us in this day and age that we could easily remove the brick and mortor school settings that we have become so accustomed to.

A friend of mine was going through a difficult time with his daughter, regarding attendance and general interest in learning. She just didn't want to go to school and felt that it was a waste of time. This went on for more than a year and she continued to fall behind in her classes and he(the father) kept getting called into the school to deal with her various behavior issues. In the end, after a lengthy amount of research, he found an alternative school that treats students like adults and gives them a lot of flexibilty with class selection and time constraints for assignment completions. The students can speed up or slow down their class schedule as they see fit, but they do have to physically go to the school to study where they can interact with students and teachers. As a result, she did a complete 360 and became interested in learning again and is back on track with a high average and is comtemplating what to take as a major in university.

I realize it is only one example, but the point I am trying to make is that the location is not the problem. The real problem is the curriculum and pace of the classes that should be redesigned not the physical classroom. It's important to remember that not every family has enough money to buy their child a computer or can afford an internet connection, so we should take a look at revising the way we teach rather than where we teach.


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