The Internet class: a thing of the space age, the future we now stand smack dab in the middle of. This 21st century concept has heads spinning and eyes rolling. Especially lately.
As we claw our way out of a repressed economic climate, the fear of letting go of that dollar rises for the current student. While there are alternative ways to get that top-notch education, many professors and administrators tug at the other end of the rope, determined to keep the classroom on their side.
Now, I’m a fan of brick and mortar. I like the low hum of the AC unit and the sound of pencils scratching. The intonations of my professor’s voice crack a smile across my youthful cheek.
But my pockets are feeling empty. And the desire to get out there and make a name for myself shakes and rattles the cage I keep it locked up in, because here I am, sitting in a classroom.
While I have pursed my lips in the past at the thought of cyber-schooling which sucks the life out of the tangible world, the real-world responsibilities facing my generation have recently fallen into my lap, and my mouth stands agape in bewilderment.
Who is to say what security awaits me in my future? With talk of Social Security funds dwindling for my pressure-cooked generation, the call to get out there and shake that money maker while juggling an education gets louder and louder.
There’s a standardized system that we are convinced is grade A beef here in the U.S. Get the high school diploma. Take the SAT and ACT. Get your bachelor’s. No matter what you want to do. Just trust the system. You’ll probably fail otherwise.
But to be a photographer or run a mechanic’s business, to make waves as a journalist or a basketball coach, should you really shell out the $210,384 tab for a Pepperdine bachelor’s degree? You’ve paid more than you will likely earn annually in your career, for a name that packs a punch to follow your own. But where’s the practical experience to back it up?
That’s where distance learning, an online, televised, barrel of monkeys sort of education comes into play. We have a vast array of constantly evolving media at our fingertips, but we hesitate to utilize it in the most efficient way possible. There’s YouTube, iTunes U, Skype; we have iPods, iPhones, iPads, Kindles, you name it, and someone you know has a way to get plugged in. Time slips while our minds scramble to catch up to the possibilities. But fear not, traditionalists. “Time does not change us. It just unfolds us.” Well said, Swedish playwright Max Frisch.
This desire for “distance education” is nothing new. “Sunrise Semester,” a CBS TV series produced alongside NYU, aired every summer 6 a.m. slot from 1957 to 1982. The broadcast courses earned enrolled students credit in a wide array of subjects, while they could engage in other forms of education or practical training in their own time. The demand for morning news broadcasts nudged the show onto the cutting room floor, but the desire for distance learning didn’t die.
While a steadily increasing demand for online coursework reflects the quickening pace of our society, many denounce the style as the fast food of education: quick, cheap and convenient. The struggle to define what qualifies quality in education ensues.
The online university is a mysterious beast that could line the pockets of schools hopping on the bandwagon, but to offer select online courses, such as the humanities series or non-major math classes, will help to iron out the wrinkles in our economy.
So should we denounce new methods when they allow for the possibility of re-stabilizing an economy? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m a semi-traditionalist devoted to this philosophy; but when I feel the water seeping out of the cracks in my favorite cup, should I refuse to toss it just because it holds sentimental value? Only a dribbling fool would. You’ll be a watery mess if you keep drinking out of that cup. Our staunch adherence to the liberal arts education is drowning our economy.
As we seek salvation from the deluge of debt, distance learning could buy the raft that keeps us afloat.
