A major observation that me and my colleagues make as teachers is the illusion of knowledge that social media and the access to internet gives students. As much I’m a fan of technological advancement and believe that everyone must make the best of it, I take its influence on the education system of the world with a pinch of salt. Sure, the education system has evolved with the rest of the world but when old schoolers say that it is not what it used to be, they’re right, and that’s not a good thing.
Will Durant said “Knowledge is the continuous discovery of our own ignorance.” It is simply a fact that knowledge humbles the learner, and the more we learn, the more we discover how much we don’t know. Teachers often observe that being humble or keeping an open mind towards criticism or correction is not a strong suit among the current generation of students. As much as we want to be understanding and adapting of the student centric education system that allows the students to make their own decisions, we simply hate to be at the receiving side of consequences when things go wrong. And go wrong they do – because the students don’t believe in delivering as per the system’s parameters and the system isn’t as forgiving as they’d like it to be.
Teachers walk this tightrope between the students’ expectations and the system’s regulations without the due consideration they deserve from both ends. But the teachers are always willing to go the extra mile when students showcase a genuine interest and/or talent for academics, co-curriculars, extra-curriculars and/or sports. It gets tiring and discouraging, however, when the few uninterested ones make the whole system seem fruitless. A rebellious illusion is installed into impressionable young minds through unregulated exposure to the wrong sides of the internet that poses a challenge to more people than themselves.
I don’t intend to sound like an old fundamentalist who preaches that the internet is bad for children. I am as much a believer in the power and importance of the internet as much as anyone; but I also firmly believe that adult supervision is extremely important during impressionable years of life. In the process of giving young students the right to make their own decisions and access the world at their convenience, we have also given them an endless scope to believe that trends are substantial sources of truth. And to assume competence/academic excellence or security of a good future based on the responses to their social media posts.
A small part of life’s struggles and realities are reflected on social media. The internet as a whole is indeed a good place to learn life lessons and important skills, but it can often be observed from students’ behaviour which part of it they’ve been dwelling on.
I realize that the flow of thought has become quite incoherent now because I started off with how knowledge humbles us. What I am trying to infer towards the end is that superficial knowledge is loud and over-confident, a nature that we as teachers often observe among students. Given the developments of the world and the importance it gives to individualism, we do not feel like it is our place to humble them; but surely we do what we can to offer guidance in the right direction. I’m afraid that in a world that has so much to offer at such convenience and speed, the role of teachers is getting more challenging every day. Interesting times lay ahead for the education system of the world.
Connected reading: Is ChatGPT the end of education as we know it?
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