Write 250 words on this proposition: “Online education is bad for society because it puts classroom teachers out of work.”
Arguments like this pop up all the time. “such and such new invention is bad for society because it puts this old invention out of work.” But is that really such a bad thing? Yes, that old invention has become obsolete, but the new invention makes life easier and more efficient for everyone. It also opens up new job avenues, especially for people already in the field.
Online education creates other avenues for educators to work in. Tutoring students in online education who are struggling with getting their work done or understanding their prerecorded lessons, creating online curriculums, and getting other educators to help make lessons or teach live lessons.
Online education makes education more accessible too. Students who maybe cannot attend in-person schools or students whose parents want a specific kind of curriculum with specific courses, such as parents who put their students in the Ron Paul Curriculum. Through prerecorded online lessons, pdfs, YouTube videos, live zoom calls with teachers, and more, education has never been easier to reach.
As the saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking an egg. Every invention has put something out of work, yes, but they have also opened up many new avenues for work. The car put the horse and buggy out of work, but it opened up avenues for assembly line workers, car parts manufacturers, cab drivers, and car washes. The digitalization of really anything has made so many things obsolete. Online news and newspapers have made print news obsolete, online streaming services have made DVDs and discs obsolete, as well as putting Blockbuster shop workers out of work.
The world keeps turning and new inventions keep coming out. Instead of focusing on the few things they will remove from society, look at the amount of improvements they will make for society.
Sofia the First 