Talk about a genius. This rediscovered interview shows Issac Asimov speaking about education’s past and future as well as it’s relation to the Internet (this interview is from 1989 mind you, quite some time before the Internet as we know it emerged).
You see, in the past only the wealthy could afford to teach their children. They hired private tutors who, if they were good teachers, based their curriculum on the student’s interests and abilities.
As time progressed we formed mass education. But, this was only possible by making teachers teach large groups at once. While this allowed learning to be for more than the privileged few, it also lost it’s personal emphasis and forced students to learn the same things at the same speed. Of course, this creates a whole list of problems, but chief among them is that it makes learning a chore, as it becomes something that is “forced up0n you.”
The answer to this, as Asimov tells is, is in computer and interconnected libraries (can you say the Internet, dear readers?). What this allows is that anyone can ask any question, no matter what your interested in and find the answer. All of this and in the privacy of your own home too. This allows students to cherry pick their personal study and, hopefully, encourage learning in both the young and old.
Not only is this amazing that Asimov was able to so accurately predict where we’re going nearly 20 years ago (a life time in PC terms) but that we are in this time. My generation, our generation is the first to be raised with general access to computers and the Internet. We are able to study and discover knowledge about anything that pops in our minds virtually instatenously. This is our time and it will be our legacy. We have access to more knowledge than any other human beings ever.
Mans future is a digital one, and our generation is was able to take those first baby steps and help develp those new muscles. Simply amazing.
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