May 14, 2021
I wouldn't prefer to call a place school where there are only machines to teach and no classmates. School is a place where students as well as teachers have mutual understanding and support for each other. It's not just about academics and evaluation which can be accomplished by machines, it's also the environment and interaction that a student requires in order to grow in every aspect of life. I would never wish to attend such school where I'm the only human sitting in the class. That feeling of loneliness would definitely bore me to death.
But, if not putting personal opinion, there are certain advantages of this type of education.
Social distancing: The situation we are in right now proves how useful this type of education is for us. It may not look possible to arrange separate classes and mechanical teachers for each student but something nearly similar can be a great help, like 6-8 students in one class as per the size of the class and number of benches in it. Accurate evaluation: Sometimes a human teacher can have some personal biases for a particular student which can influence his/her grades but in case of a mechanical teacher it's different. The machine will evaluate every student equally and accurately.No hesitation for students: There are number of situations when a student hesitates to ask his/her doubts out loud. It can be the fear of sounding dunce in front of the whole class or maybe an intimidating teacher. But when come to think of a mechanical teacher, a student won't hesitate to ask a smallest doubt because the machine wont be judging him/her for that. No distraction: In this type of education, there would be least amount of distraction as considering the absence of classmates and a human teacher. Student may be able to focus on studying only when there's no one around to grab his attention elsewhere.
Disadvantages:
Lack of mutual understanding: The relationship between a teacher and a student is pretty sensitive. A normal (human) teacher can easily decipher whether or not the student is able to understand the problem. A normal teacher has the potential to bring the best out of his/her student and this involves emotions which machines don't possess. Lack of support: Students are able to do better in academics because they get constant support from their teachers as well as their classmates. Who is going to applaud for you when you get highest grades in the class and give a nice presentation? This type of support cannot be neglected.No group activities: Students also learn from each other when involved in a group activity. Group activities play very crucial role in the development of interpersonal skills. But when you are the only one in the class no group activity can take place.
Sadly because of the pandemic the education system that is imposed upon us is not much better. Virtual school does lack so many things that a traditional school system provides but the fact that interaction between students and teacher is possible makes the difference. Only the use of technological means has increased. In 12th grade I would definitely prefer attending traditional school with my friends and classmates and with human teachers because it would be my last year and I truly don't want to spend it by sitting home and gazing my computer screen.
