Geico Insurance has a commercial where a daycare has elected to use robots instead of human daycare employees. Of course the robots are doing everything wrong, mishandling the poor children to no end. The mother in the commercial admits that the program has some flaws, but it does save money because robots work for free. This commercial would be a lot funnier if it wasn’t so close to reality.
Right now South Korea is replacing teachers with robots. Rather than using English speakers in the classroom, South Korea is beginning to outsource its English language program to English speaking teachers in the Philippines who are paid only a fraction of what native South Korean teachers would be paid. The Philippine teachers control the robots as they zip around the South Korean classrooms thousands of miles away. We don’t know if the robots are equipped with Tasers to keep the students in line. (Add your own joke here) Nevertheless, teacher robot development could put as many as 20,000 teachers out of work in South Korea.
If you are looking for the next area of privatization for our educational system, get ready for the rise of the robots. Anti-unionists are likely to get downright giddy when they learn that the robots “… won’t complain about health insurance, sick leave and severance package, or leave in three months for a better-paying job in Japan… all you need is a repair and upgrade every once in a while.”
This idea of replacing teachers with technology is not new and has been going on for some time. Whether in the Outback of Australia or the woodlands and tundra of Alaska, remote learning is a necessity, first through ham radio and now the internet and satellite links. Physically present teachers just couldn’t be provided to students in these areas.
Today we are providing virtual learning opportunities to students in densely populated cities where access to a teacher is not a major problem. In some classrooms, the teacher is present, but much of the teaching is done through commuter programs.
All this may be well and good. Individual students can stop or even replay a video lesson. The computer will never lose its temper or get bored with the material. So instead of the teacher giving the lesson and sending the student home with homework, the student can get the lesson at home and come into the classroom and work on the assignments with the teacher there giving additional support.
I am in favor of phasing out textbooks and teacher lectures and replacing those educational delivery systems with ebooks and computer presentations.
The major problem is that machines can’t or shouldn’t be used to replace human interactions between children and adults. For so many of our children, there is no meaningful adult in their lives to listen to their problems and give them direction. Thinking that we can use machines to replace adults is dead wrong. Like the Geico commercial, robots (or computers) aren’t very good at giving hugs.
The last thing a child needs when he/she raises a hand looking for help is to have a Terminator Arnold race past the child announcing, “I’ll be back.”
