Best quote about Digital education ever

[Pix]

As much as it's meant to make everything more streamlined and conformed, I just can't help but imagine that it would only serve to aggravate our problem of reduced individualistic innovation and make education ever more just about numbers and grades rather than actual learning.

Why would this be the case? How does it make things even more conformed than they already are?

I personally believe that I'd have learned more digitally than in a school (or better yet, just turn me loose in a library). At the very least I wouldn't have gotten in trouble for asking questions that I looked up online as I did at school where most teachers did all they could to keep me (and others) silent and sticking to the very structured lesson plan for us to regurgitate the memorized answers from assigned reading (as opposed to actual learning to think or making any sense out of it), and often forget after. The entire school experience teaches how to obey orders and live in a society without rights more than anything else. Therefore I'm confused by your assertion there.

[Pix]

As for "cheating," the one I knew who took digital schooling wouldn't have gotten away with it because of 2 reasons:

1. Any essays and the like were checked for copies online (just as those in a classroom are) and those are good enough to catch those that have been edited a bit to try to disguise it's a copy.

2. One has to show up occasionally, at least to take the finals there rather than send it online.

I don't know how normal that is but I'd think it would be normal for any credible institution (that is where the degree actually means something rather than a "diploma mill").

ETA: In addition she had to take part in on line classroom discussions (not all of them but there was a minimum amount of time she had to participate while a lecture while going on).

[Pix]

Oh, and fun story, IMO, I read in the high school history book about an ancient battle and I said I thought the date was wrong, and when asked my source he mocked me mercilessly when I admitted an Iron Maiden song. So I went to both the school and public library and found out that Iron Maiden was correct and the answer book was wrong (with the coach who was only given the job as under Texas law a coach had to teach a subject and Texas schools worry a lot more about having winning football teams than academic excellence). And when I showed 3 books that agreed with Iron Maiden I was sent to the office where I was told to never correct the teacher in class ("not even when he's wrong?" "he's not wrong") and the principal took the school library book which never found its way back to the school library shelf. And btw, we had a multiple choice test after which asked the date of the battle with 1 option being the incorrect date he taught and the other the one Iron Maiden and 3 library books said was correct. I answered the latter and it was the only question I "missed."

I've heard similar stories from others, my favorite being how he got in trouble for correcting his math teacher who had said (in mocking him for reading a book on Hitler) Adolf Hitler was a Communist (and his explaining that Hitler was a Nazi and the Nazis and Commies hated each other and ending with, "You, being a teacher, should know that") got him in so much trouble though he said that was about the only time he got sent to the office where they didn't call home!