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My daughter asked me an interesting equestion today. She asked if I think we'll still have human teachers in 15 years (her career pick of the week is teaching). We've been talking a lot about what we'd like to see in schools. Instead of pie in the sky, let's talk about what we think will really happen. How do you see schools changing/not changing in the next 15, 30....however many years?
I see us tryng on line/computerized learning but I see it flopping. I don't think kids are, intrinsically, motivated to learn the kinds of things we teach in school so, while I think there will be a period of time when they try to replace teachers with computers, I think they'll end up going back to human teachers. On the off chance computerized learning is made exciting enough that students will do it, I see them having serious issues adapting to the work world which will not entertain them or present itself with colorful graphics to keep their attention. (I think we'll just create more kids with ADD because they've never had to force themselves to pay attention to something that isn't exciting.)
What I see happening is teaching being devalued as a profession and I see the working conditions for teachers declining. It will be lower paying so more capable people will choose other professions. I don't think anyone will care about this because there is this idea that anyone can teach. We're already seeing this in Michigan. Several years ago, a decision was made to have high school science teachers actually major or minor in the subject they teach. When they proposed this, they created a general science certificate that was intended to teach only middle school. Now, to avoid a science teacher shortage, holders of middle school certs, who, literally, didn't major in anything in science, can now teach high school science. This is pushing people with single subject certification out of teaching because they are seen as inflexible WRT what they can teach compared to holders of the golden middle school science cert that has now been blessed for all science grades 6-12.
I see class sizes getting larger, as a cost save, and less teaching getting done as teachers spend more time on group management and less time on the curriculum. The only way large class sizes work is if students are held accountable but, here in the US, everyone but the student is held accountable. If the student doesn't learn, it's because the teacher is boring not because they chose to day dream rather than listen. (I'm giving a test that's going to be brutal on Tuesday because half of my students have chosen to, simply, tune out what they see as boring material and it will be my fault for not making it exciting (stoichiometry, like math, requires a lot of practice). Hopefully, the shock will knock some sense into them as the next chapter requires even more practice and isn't exciting either.).
So what do you think school will look like in X number of years? Do you think it will improve? or get worse? I see education as being on a downward spiral and I see no end in sight so my prediction is bleak.
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My wife works at a local elementary school in special ed. Many, if not most of the teachers there are working a second job to make ends meet. Not just during the summer, all year. Even then they cannot afford to live in the area where the school is. Their contribution has been devalued for a long time. The other thing we see is the revolving door for special ed teachers. While there are more and more students identified as needing services, the teachers burn out quickly and go back to regular classrooms or even quit teaching for other careers. While I doubt that there will be online teaching
for elementary and intermediate (they are doing it now in HS and college)
I think the current budget crisis is going to set back teaching salaries and class size for many years. Those who do go into teaching, even more than now, will require a real passion for it, motivation other than the compensation. I also feel like there will be a shortage of special ed teachers
and they could end up getting a bigger piece of the salary pie. They do now, but the additional amount they get can't make up for the more difficult (even dangerous at times) work and more vulnerability to lawsuits.
Schools are becoming, and will continue to become more data driven. I am spending less time actually meeting with my students individually about their writing and reading and more time collecting data and inputting information into Excel sheets. While I have more numerical data for each student, I actually know them less than I ever have before.
Schools can be taken online in the future, just like they are in college now. There might be a option for elementary and high school students. I don't think teachers would be robots cause that would take human jobs away and that would probably be a big problem for people pursuing being a teacher.
Why don't we just copy China like we copy their materials? Their education system seems far better than ours and they are doing much better in creating new things than anywhere else in the world. They are creating the future while we sit still.
My wife works at a local elementary school in special ed. Many, if not most of the teachers there are working a second job to make ends meet. Not just during the summer, all year. Even then they cannot afford to live in the area where the school is. Their contribution has been devalued for a long time. The other thing we see is the revolving door for special ed teachers. While there are more and more students identified as needing services, the teachers burn out quickly and go back to regular classrooms or even quit teaching for other careers. While I doubt that there will be online teaching
for elementary and intermediate (they are doing it now in HS and college)
I think the current budget crisis is going to set back teaching salaries and class size for many years. Those who do go into teaching, even more than now, will require a real passion for it, motivation other than the compensation. I also feel like there will be a shortage of special ed teachers
and they could end up getting a bigger piece of the salary pie. They do now, but the additional amount they get can't make up for the more difficult (even dangerous at times) work and more vulnerability to lawsuits.
All the motivation besides compensation in the world won't do if you can't take care of your own kids. I love where I'm teaching. I think the strength of my subject matter expertise and my experience bring something to the classroom kids wouldn't get from another teacher. My motivation is anything but financial but if the 10% proposed pay cut on top of higher medical premiums and copays goes through, I will not be able to pay for college for my kids if I stay in teaching. I'm, barely, getting anything into savings for them now. It won't matter how much I love what I do or how much I can offer if I can't take care of my own kids. I didn't do this to get rich but I did expect to be able to take care of my family. If they take that away, you will see a lot of dedicated teachers leaving for other professions. It doesn't matter how much you love what you do if you can't pay the bills doing it.
I'm fortunate in that I can go back into industry and double my salary over night. Hopefully, the market will turn around in Michigan before my daugther heads off to college in three years. If not, I move. Every few months, I get an, unsolicited, invitation to interview in another state. I'd be willing to bet I could find work in three months if I did a nationwide search.
I wish summer jobs were easier to come by. Around here, it's hard to find someone who wants to hire you for just 8 weeks. While teachers do have 10 weeks "off" during the summer, there's room tear down and grading to do in the spring and room set up an inventories to do in the fall before school starts. I'd love to find a factory that needs weekend engineers or supervisors. Anything I can make during the summer would put me that much closer to being able to stay in teaching without costing my children a chance to go to college.
Schools can be taken online in the future, just like they are in college now. There might be a option for elementary and high school students. I don't think teachers would be robots cause that would take human jobs away and that would probably be a big problem for people pursuing being a teacher.
Why don't we just copy China like we copy their materials? Their education system seems far better than ours and they are doing much better in creating new things than anywhere else in the world. They are creating the future while we sit still.
Do you really think the average student will do what is needed without a teacher setting the pace?
I have an old colleague who is proctoring an on line course at her high school this year. It's a disaster. While a few students work ahead, most drag their feet. The kids just aren't motivated to finish the material in a timely manner. They try to do as little as possible. Many of her students will fail because they will not get through 70% of the material not because they can't but becuause they pace too slowly on their own.
Please note that China is not known for using on line learning. I'll agree with you on copying Asia but the one thing we need to copy is the responsibility their students take for their own learning. The day our students take responsibility for their own learning is the day we start to catch up to China. Until then, we're spinning our wheels.
I hope we don't have human teachers. The curriculum should be structured and engineered by humans. But in general everything but hard sciences and hard maths should be self-taught and online.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivorytickler
My daughter asked me an interesting equestion today. She asked if I think we'll still have human teachers in 15 years (her career pick of the week is teaching). We've been talking a lot about what we'd like to see in schools. Instead of pie in the sky, let's talk about what we think will really happen. How do you see schools changing/not changing in the next 15, 30....however many years?
I see us tryng on line/computerized learning but I see it flopping. I don't think kids are, intrinsically, motivated to learn the kinds of things we teach in school so, while I think there will be a period of time when they try to replace teachers with computers, I think they'll end up going back to human teachers. On the off chance computerized learning is made exciting enough that students will do it, I see them having serious issues adapting to the work world which will not entertain them or present itself with colorful graphics to keep their attention. (I think we'll just create more kids with ADD because they've never had to force themselves to pay attention to something that isn't exciting.)
What I see happening is teaching being devalued as a profession and I see the working conditions for teachers declining. It will be lower paying so more capable people will choose other professions. I don't think anyone will care about this because there is this idea that anyone can teach. We're already seeing this in Michigan. Several years ago, a decision was made to have high school science teachers actually major or minor in the subject they teach. When they proposed this, they created a general science certificate that was intended to teach only middle school. Now, to avoid a science teacher shortage, holders of middle school certs, who, literally, didn't major in anything in science, can now teach high school science. This is pushing people with single subject certification out of teaching because they are seen as inflexible WRT what they can teach compared to holders of the golden middle school science cert that has now been blessed for all science grades 6-12.
I see class sizes getting larger, as a cost save, and less teaching getting done as teachers spend more time on group management and less time on the curriculum. The only way large class sizes work is if students are held accountable but, here in the US, everyone but the student is held accountable. If the student doesn't learn, it's because the teacher is boring not because they chose to day dream rather than listen. (I'm giving a test that's going to be brutal on Tuesday because half of my students have chosen to, simply, tune out what they see as boring material and it will be my fault for not making it exciting (stoichiometry, like math, requires a lot of practice). Hopefully, the shock will knock some sense into them as the next chapter requires even more practice and isn't exciting either.).
So what do you think school will look like in X number of years? Do you think it will improve? or get worse? I see education as being on a downward spiral and I see no end in sight so my prediction is bleak.
I hope we don't have human teachers. The curriculum should be structured and engineered by humans. But in general everything but hard sciences and hard maths should be self-taught and online.
So what do you do with students who are not motivated to learn on their own? Just flush them?
The problem I see with on line learning is that kids aren't motivated to learn what they are being taught in school. They don't see the big picture. One of the jobs of a teacher is to try and motivate students.
To be honest, a computer program that will keep the average student engaged and wanting to complete the tasks in front of them would scare me. I would wonder what will happen to them when they are not sitting in front of a machine that is entertaining them all day long?
I think there are some things that lend themselves to online learning such as reading differentiation but I think, overall, we will not win if we allow machines to replace teachers.
Interestingly, the only places I've seen on line learning succeed is in the hard sciences and maths. Students taking those courses are motivated to learn. AP chemistry is taught as an on line course at my high school.
I can see online learning working for the top students and, maybe, the bottom if you retain a teacher to keep them on track. I don't see it working for the average student.
I hope we don't have human teachers. The curriculum should be structured and engineered by humans. But in general everything but hard sciences and hard maths should be self-taught and online.
Why? Is the rationale simply to save tax dollars?
Honestly, if we take what you are saying to its end, I see nothing in future, but a world where we sit in front of our computers all day long typing, pushing buttons, and perhaps speaking directly into it.
The only jobs that will be available are for hardware and software designers.
We already have computer reading tutorial programs to help teach K-6 students to read better (ie. Lexia). As teachers develop a targeted intervention plan for struggling readers, the recommendation is plug them into a computer program. The programs test & keep data on reading growth. There are similar computer math programs.
We don't have to talk to parents regarding progress mid-quarter or send progress reports since parents can access all of their assignments/grades on our new Zangle. I love Zangle in that our grade book can now be sent automatically to the report card which the office prints. I remember hand entering grades in the grade book, averaging grades & hand writing report cards! Now a program does all that for me.
There's no way technology can replace teachers, though, at K-6. However, I do foresee class sizes increase & teacher aides being cut in the future. The methodologies utilized in elementary education, cooperative learning, guided reading, small group instruction, learning centers may be thrown away to revert back to the 50's with children in rows doing workbooks.
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