"We don't need no (old-school) education"
Sunday, October 11, 2009 by kwatt
In an article by Steve Lohr, he writes about a new educational system for children in the United States called the National Educational Technology Plan (NETP). The new system is going to try and reproduce the one-on-one tutor system that is similar to the 16th century method of teaching. Only, instead of using actual human tutors, they are going to use computer programmes. With programmes like these, children could be able to apply their work in simulated programmes, instead of using the old revise-and-regurgitate method of learning. This programme will not be put into schools overnight of course, and as Lohr writes, there are some doubts as to whether the programme will succeed due to high costs. “For all its promise to improve education, technology is still no match for one human tutoring another — which, of course, cannot be used to educate large numbers of students and is expensive.” But the idea does not seem too utopian as there are other programmes that have been incorporated into some of the schools educational syllabus. Whilst reading Majid Yar’s article from the reader I found myself thinking about his comment on the education system and the aims of the copyright industries. “Particularly worrying is the ease and effectiveness with which the copyright industries have co-opted the educational system as a collaborator in (re)educating children about copyright.” Whilst this is not the main point of the essay, of course, it did make me wonder why it was so easy for the copyright industries to incorporate their needs into an educational system. Whereas an education programme like NETP seems like an impossibility. If it was easy to incorporate these programmes into the children’s educational syllabus, then why are costs all of a sudden a problem? It can be argued that the copyright industries are privatized and would benefit financially from programmes that are trying to stop piracy. But surely a child’s education is just as important in an age where technologies are a ubiquitous part of society?