Sunday, July 15, 2012

Future of Education: Going the Online Way!

No longer is education limited to just traditional 'brick and mortar' classrooms. Right from kids to adults, everyone is going the online way as far as education is concerned via a series of online classes and courses. These classes are offered either by experienced independent teachers or by schools and colleges that also conduct regular classroom-based teaching.

According to a survey conducted by the Sloan Consortium, over 5.6 million students took an online class in 2011, accounting to about 30 percent of the total U.S. college students. The number of students taking online courses has definitely increased compared to the 2009 Sloan Consortium survey report that showed just negligible 10 percent of students taking such internet-based courses.

Now, what can be the reason behind the increasing popularity of online classes? Let us find out.

Flexibility of Learning

Today, students prefer to learn at their convenience. With online classes, they can easily choose their time to study and likewise schedule time for other tasks like tuitions or sports. Many students find traditional classrooms to be hectic, as they need to sit all day long attending individual classes on a continuous basis. Breaks are short and the ongoing learning process can sometimes be quiet overbearing.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

We Need Better Education to Train People for New Jobs, but Isn't That Corporate Welfare?

It is interesting that in the United States, all the politicians tell us that they are going to help provide more jobs for Americans. The first thing they point to is the notion that Americans are not qualified and trained, or educated properly for the new jobs in the new era of our growing economy and fast-paced innovative world. The reality is there is always new innovation, and the jobs do change, and therefore the training must also change. What bothers me about these podium pushing politicians that get up there and tell us these things, is that to pay for this, they wish to raise our taxes.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to pay anymore taxes, and I don't like the inefficient way that our state and federal government runs its affairs. It's a bloated bureaucracy and it is highly inefficient. Maybe the government needs to go back to training, and maybe the politicians need to get a life. Secondly, and I have another comment, and this one is more serious. Do you know why politicians whether Republican or Democrat always claim that the problem is education, and to get more jobs, we need more money in education?

It's simple, because the teachers unions are supported by the Democrats. And many of the corporations support the Republicans. The corporations would love to have all of their labor pre-trained and ready to work the day they start. And they would love for someone else to do it. The teachers of course would like to have lots of work, guarantee employment, and excellent benefits.