Technology or Teachers?  That is the question facing many schools facing difficult financial situations.  'Do we adjust our budget to focus on the personal aspect of learning by hiring more teachers or do we pursue the newest technology that may just be the answer to our academic deficit?'  Questions similar to this one are floating around school districts across the country.  In my mind teachers, in human form, will never be obselete.  I cannot concieve of a day when it will no longer be necessary to employ real people to teach the next generation of students.  But there are those who can and do imagine a day when technology will dictate the education of every student.  An article in New York Times comes at this topic from a slightly different angle, click here to read. 

Education is a purely human institution.  People are essential to the transfer of knowledge.  Computers and other technological developments can assist with the transfer but they cannot serve as the originator or receptor without human influence.  This may sound like an unnecessary thought to express but with the speed and sheer amount of development that is occuring to replace the essential nature of teachers, I think we are obligated to recognize the limitedness of technology.

Teachers, too, need to be reminded of this.  Our jobs are highly personal.  Every student, lesson, class, and situation is different because in the education equation people must always be treated as variables.  We cannot expect that because lesson A goes well for group A that the same lesson delivered in the same way will be successful with group B, this is a mechanical way of thinking.  Teachers must remember to see the students as people and not just potential test scores.