“In the future we won't need teachers — we'll all be able to study on line ..." (1)

I'm sorry, but that simply isn’t true. You’ve got a point that most subjects we want to study are available on the Internet, but it doesn’t necessary mean that we won´t need teachers in the future.

Many people do learn languages, cooking, history or drawing through apps, by using online classrooms or watching tutorials. We actually look for resources on the net to improve our skills, but not because we want to replace teachers with machines. I personally feel that a teacher is absolutely essential. If you want to succeed you need someone who encourages you through your struggles and this is better if you can keep eye contact with them and feel human affection.

A free, open online course is very attractive to enroll in but, according to experts, more than 90% of people who register in these courses don’t finish. I myself know quite a few examples of people who started a course online and after a short period of time they found it boring and dropped out.

Teachers will never disappear, not until learning online holds students’ attention as teachers do. On the internet we can find a huge amount of information, but a teacher is much more than a “purveyor of knowledge” — he or she provides you with values, too.

Esther Cáceres – C1.1