The world is growing apart from one another as we follow the march on technology. There are no longer large front or wrap-around porches on houses, small backyard decks replace these with walls on two sides shielding out the neighbors' eyes. The world does not spend enough time with one another and this is starting to have an effect on how people treat others. There is a new beast on the horizon driven by the push of technology and the Internet, this idea is to remove the students from both each other and their instructors and place them in front of computers to learn their material. Telelearning will only help companies and governments in an effort to manipulate people into being weak and forcing them to know only a "censored" version of history, that is, if anybody uses it at all.
If students are given the option of a flexible time for class work, the time always tends to be later, rather than sooner; tomorrow or even the day after.
Student
English: Veterinary students from the United State...
Afghan students learning English.This phenomenon is called procrastination. Students are inclined to stay away from work simply because they do not understand the importance and the consequences of not applying themselves in school. The idea of distance learning is another way students can slip through the cracks if they have an partiality to putting off work there is no way that student will perform on par with his class mates if they were in a brick and mortar type school. The act of learning becomes a tiring bore that does not motivate or inspire the students to learn subjects outside of their classes. The foundation young students would learn is "ÃÂcomputers are everything,' the source for entertainment, learning, news, social interaction if these students can find means to make an initial connection with one another. The idea that humans can learn from humans may sputter and die within a generation or two and our society will become colder to each other as the importance of people drops still and everyone becomes expendable. There is no instructor to provide feedback to insightful questions and provide the next idea the student was thinking about to nudge them towards thinking about their question and develop curiosity. Intriguing hints such as these fueled me to become more interested in the world, as I like to link this loosely to my detestation of television as a source of entertainment to my hands on involvement with the world to a possibility of a generation poisoned not only by the television and computer as current generations are, but to have the computer be the reliable source for all information would doom them to an unfulfilling life as everyone learns the same thing.
Governments could use this method of teaching as a powerful mind control or history altering technique. Slight alterations to the past could be made to the material and cloaked in a seemingly innocent attempt to make light the past in the consideration of current knowledge when in fact the changes are not implied by modern research. As this new teaching medium could remove the need for instructors and teachers many in the academic and intellectual fields could become removed enough from the material being taught to children could alter more every year without anyone taking notice. With the present state of the government in the United States as a bloated overlord we could be assured that any material as widespread as Telelearning would be inspected and controlled. The power inherent in changing the past to suit the desires of those in power is far too dangerous to treat lightly.
Students taught through distance and Telelearning would not become socially adept through interactions with their peers daily. This leads to a reclusive lifestyle and an inability to hold meaningful or ling term relationships because of the difficulty in communicating effectively to peers. There is a trend in youth today that shows they cannot handle the stresses of life, we have been given plenty of Columbine style examples of students unable cope with stress, rejection, and internal conflicts. The communication abilities of the Gameboy-in-hand kids at church is surely lacking as these children are now having a tough time calling out for pizza or making a doctor appointment. The communication mastery required to land a successful job is far out of reach of those having difficulty with peers. Removing students from the influence of faculty and school administrators removes some of the first exposure people have to different members of society and different situations that require a certain conduct of person.
Modern life has a tendency toward the generic as honey mustard and barbeque are now featured on every imaginable type of food and our mixing pot of culture has become one of unadulterated capitalism and generic suburban everyday life. The requirement to wake up and go to school in middle-class suburbia was more than enough for me, to remove the fun I had in high school and sit me in front of a computer for seven hours a day would have shaped a life that is unthinkable for me.
Technology has been able to produce some positive applications for society as nearly everything we work with throughout our day has been engineered for its purpose. However, as the system grows larger and larger there are loopholes and cracks that people can slip through both if they are trying and also if they are not. The apathy of the people towards politics and their children leave the door wide open for governmental abuse of a widespread teaching medium. This medium will also force those affected by it to have weaker ties with other people and slowly forcing a lifestyle change of reclusive and socially weak living. In this sense socially weak also implies a reliance on the government as they can come off as the only benevolent facility for these people. Removing students from classrooms, instructors, peers, and school administration could only benefit huge corporations and governments looking to more closely control the desires and actions of the people as these situations are necessary to allow humans to start their lives living among people and interacting comfortably with them.
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