Let us think about Bill Gates predictions on college education
Bill Gates is the cause of some talk about the future of college campuses and on-line learning, a subject that is interesting, no matter how one may estimate Gates’ powers on thinking about education. In my opinion not only the subject is interesting, but also Gates’ emphasis on personal endeavour to the degree of the almost solitary passionate quest for knowledge and creativity.
Larry Atkins in The Huffington Post writes that “Having face-to-face interaction with faculty and other students makes it more likely to develop strong and meaningful relationships.”
“The learning is hands-on and the feedback is more immediate. It’s more beneficial to teaching techniques such as lectures, the give-and-take Socratic method, question-and-answer sessions, and student critiquing groups and other group projects. … There’s a common sense of community and school pride on campus. Many alumni return to school for a Homecoming football game or a class reunion. Most people don’t just identify with their college for four years; they identify with it for life. That same passion and identification doesn’t exist for online colleges.” (Read complete)
Atkins has a point, no matter how well expressed: developing knowledge and creativity needs a relationship and community, not just a solitary individual. No one is even born without any participation of the others, so that even the most personal intentions grow in some kind of interaction and ‘external’ influences.
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