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Megan Summers
Golden Lake
Canada

Impact Entrepreneurship Group

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Is the internet, not formal education, the new great equalizer?

Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery. – Horace Mann

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Topics: Internet education equality

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Tabish Azeem
- +1
Oct 8 2011: Yes, most of internet is equal for all, full of resources and free! Formal education is restricted, internet is accessible by all. It is THE great equalizer, in today's world!
Sebastian Sastre 500+
- +3
TEDx Organizer

Oct 8 2011: Internet is the ultimate democratization.

Everything it touches gets democratized by design.

Education isn't the exception.

So, yeah... no doubt about it
Grant Huhn
- +1
Oct 8 2011: I'm not sure that everyone uses the internet like we (TED fans) do. I am certain that there are a good number of people who spend as much time on the internet as we do, but they never do any research on it. They check Facebook manically, they write YouTube comments [shudder], they look at inappropriate material, they send messages that could use some proofing.
Fengbin (Kathy) Zhao
- 0
Oct 8 2011: When we listen to a TAlk in TED, how is it different from listening to a lecture in a formal education?

When we discuss a topic in TED conversation, how is it different from discussing a topic in a formal class?

The Internet can become a powerful tool for formal education. The internet and formal education might not be two things that we compare with each other; instead, we might want to think that how formal education can make best use of the internet; on the other hand, how informal-learning in the internet can learn somehow from the traditional classroom

Formal education is an important phase for life-long learning. Even Steve Jobs and Bill Gates benefit greatly from formal education.

Or think it in this way:

If you want to learn something, say: Project Managing: where could you get the best teaching material, and best learning experience?

Why do we love TED? TED provides enriched and quality information. Still, if you want to learn a specific subject more deeply, systematically, formal education might be a better choice.
John Kizer
- +1
Oct 8 2011: Simple enough:

Unless you can use the internet to consistently direct a child's attention and effort in a focused way throughout several hours you will always need formal education (teachers in a structured setting). However, given the internet's ability to quickly engage and maintain a child's attention, the challenge is to use that unique tool to better use the skills of teachers.
John Kizer
- +1
Oct 8 2011: A CHALLENGE: Stop complaining and turn those that "fetishize" a technology into active supporters. I would have loved to have had the internet access in 1964 in Malaysia.

I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE, not just reading. I was there, lived it, improved, in a small way, their life. Example follows. Also, the "great equalizer" is not feeding people, etc. It is enabling people to feed themselves, etc. "Teach a man/woman/child to fish."

I recall hearing, while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1964 in very rural Malaysia, a radio playing music. It was a battery powered radio, with an antenna strung up a +/-100 foot tall jungle tree. That radio, as well as a subsequent road into the village, provided access to knowledge that opened up the inhabitants to ways of learning and "doing" to improve their lives.

The internet can do the same, in a SUBSTANTIALLY more effective way, including bringing the plight of the less fortunate to the eyes and hearts of the more fortunate, eliciting support in ways that print, radio and TV never could. The two way visual communication is a great tool for you.

Real world example: with the support of the Catholic Relief Services we started a school lunch program utilizing food from the Service, cooking utensils from the local government, and labor of the teachers and parents.

With the internet I could have more quickly set up the project, found more outside help, and provided more support for teaching youngsters and adults.

Instant communication between Malaysia and the world could have provided additional assets with which to teach a man/woman/child "to fish" (we taught them how to raise fish by the way). More real world examples available.

So, challenge those you chastise as well as those that respond here. Use the internet (instant photos/stories) to educate those that "fetishize a technology" about how it can be utilized in your country. ASK THEM TO STEP UP WITH ACTIVITY - WE BOTH KNOW TALK IS CHEAP.
Madeleine Cox
- 0
Oct 8 2011: I think the internet has the power to give students who may not have had a voice at school the courage to express themselves. It also offers connections and possibilities far beyond the traditional classroom walls. However, the two are not mutually exclusive. In some formal education institutions the internet is at the heart of university courses by being the focus for study, not just a tool for learning. Innovative educators such as Dr. Michael Wesch at Kansas State University encourage creativity, inquiry and critical thinking in their students.

Check out http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=303 and
the video collage of students’ reflections: http://visionsofstudents.org/
Diane Aoki
- 0
Oct 8 2011: It would be if it was free and accessible to everyone. My schol recently underwent major technology upgrades which included home access to some great programs. Very very few students log on at home. Flipped classrooms could not work in this community. I teach in a school with more than 50% free and reduced lunch but even the ones who are okay financially don't have free access to the Internet. One story - her father is on Facebook all the time!
Estela Estela 10+
- +1
Oct 8 2011: In some ways the answer is yes. You can see a word that leads you to its definition and then to further research and the next thing you know you are learning physics, or some other subject that you may have never been exposed to.

What I hope never happens is that we are kept from exploring. I know that happens in countries with more censorship and I think it is just horrid--as bad as book burning.

I hope the internet continues to be a library of life and that information be open to all!
Thomas Mrak
- +3
Oct 8 2011: We have become a nation obsessed with needing to prove ourselves to someone else, rather than encouraging innovation, creativity, and risk-taking.

I am not against college, I am against what it has become.

A degree has become a permission slip to middle class status, and is no longer about personal enrichment. Anyone who does not obtain one is seen as unintelligent and lazy by many people in society.

Currently, academia is designed around a specific kind of student. - the students who obtain high GPAs and have high SAT scores. Not everyone is suited for college and not everyone has the resources and support network to ensure that they perform well enough in their academic careers to get into a good school, let alone obtain a degree.

High achievers usually come from families which value education, but some are not so lucky.

Will you say to the people who were not lucky enough to have had support, that they do not deserve a chance at having a good life?

Some people make better artists and entrepreneurs than academics, and many learn in different ways.

While I understand the usefulness of a college degree, we are creating a large underclass of people, many of whom are intelligent, and hard-working because the belief that unless you have a bachelor's or higher, you are incapable of doing anything worthwhile in life, which is quite false.

I have known people in my life who are doing just fine without it, and many who do have loads of education and experience that are struggling.

It is more about the individual than anything else.

When did America become a country that valued a piece of paper as the only way to obtain a decent standard of living over people forging their own path in life?

Maybe Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Bill Gates tdidn't deserve happiness or success in life because they didn't finish college.

That is the message we send people.

It's time to rethink it.
Fred Lanisake
- 0
Oct 8 2011: I don't necessarily want to be cut open by a surgeon who earned his certification online. But the internet offers remarkable advantages over traditional education, especially when it comes to teaching yourself. It's one thing to have a stack of books. But when every complicated word or concept is a blue link offering endless pages of information on anything you'd like, formal education in some cases can't compare. I don't need to sit through a 12 week computer science course slowly drifting at a pace in which all student can keep up. I'm better off learning java or linux with wikis and forums.
Eric Pelletier
- +1
Oct 7 2011: formal education and Internet are so far from reality that yes i would say they equalize ppl ... as in making ppl dummer ... Internet , tv , school and just about any occupation today in modern life puts us back ... way back in the caves . a lot of men and women don't even know how to provide for their basic needs . food shelter clothing .
not only in 3rd world countries but also in modern cities . the simple fact of how many ppl are morbidly obese and
how many ppl starve to death is appalling .

reality is this Internet makes it easy to communicate but in doing so the quality makes room for quantity .
if we compare that to education it is very similar . we have bigger classes , more teachers that cant be fired for misbehavior and this lowers the quality ( quite a bit!)

so i would revere much more my grand parents that knew how to sow , cook and grow food than any accountants that can calculate how much the government will rip me off or the banker for that matter ( of course neglecting to mention his fees in that equation)
Jan Seiter
- +1
Oct 7 2011: Several postings have commented that their idea of school is different than anothers'...THIS is the POINT. In the US, our version of school is unique. If you want to know why our old model of education is working so well in third world countries now, it's because it DOES work, and is based on the industrial model of school. But industry is no longer the typical bedrock business of our economy. Our economy is based more on information and talent sharing, and this is the model of 'school' that needs to be explored.
- M.A. Lucas-Green
  - 0
  Oct 7 2011: The industrial model is not working all over the world. Thanks to the Millenium Development Goals, the UN has brought facilities, books, and training to regions that previously had nothing. Yes, in this situation, our model does work as inquiry is part of human nature. The internet however, provides unlimited resources to all with access. The statistics on cell phone subscriptions are staggering, bringing knowledge to nearly every community on earth. That is a model that REALLY works. Now if we can bring some form of organization to it all, we will have an amazing resource.
Shahid Khan
- 0
Oct 7 2011: This book has some interesting thoughts ' The Rise of Colleges' by George Makdisi
Edinburgh University Press, 1981 - 377 pages
Kathleen Kilian
- 0
Oct 7 2011: I believe that the internet is a great tool that can be used in pursuit of the great equalizer, but don't see it headed that way. So many people are programmed to look towards an "expert" for informatiion, and only use the internet for media consumption or social interactions but not as a tool for learning. Many people I see in different walks of life have little or no interest in learning anything beyond what they need to function on a basic level and what is the latest gossip in their little corner of the world. Students use it to do what they need to get through classes, rather than really learning material. Of course there are exceptions, especially for those who have been disappointed by more traditional routes of learning. It is then that the possibilities of the internet open up to them. IMO, the great equalizer is either an inherent or instilled love of learning. If you have that, then you'll use whatever tools are available to you or will seek them out. Of course it is always helpful to have people who recognize this and make resources available and are willing to show other how to use them, whatever they may be.
Rolando Chacon
- 0
Oct 7 2011: When it comes to higher education, there will be blurred differences between these 3 tools:

Online teaching - Online evaluation - Personal Master classes

I share with you a presentation about Education 3.0

http://prezi.com/op-nfm1mbnrk/education-30/

Cheers,
Daniel Kinzer 500+
- +3
TEDx Organizer

Oct 7 2011: I framed this question on Mr. K's Classroom (Facebook) as: "Should we be putting our resources towards 'internet for all', rather than trying to provide a formal education for all? The Classroom thinks so."

We have limited resources and formal education is expensive. I love the comments about Sugata Mitra's S.O.L.E.'s and hearing people acknowledge the unique qualities every human being brings to this world. We are born learners, we create structure and meaning for ourselves from the time we are born. We are then conditioned by what is known as 'formal education' - it's beginning earlier and earlier in people's lives. We're conditioned to think the way we're told to think, and know the things we're told are important for our future. But we can determine relevance through observation, and we are keen observers until that talent is destroyed by schooling. We determine relevance through meaningful social interactions, but we're often asked to push those interactions to the end of our day, when our 'learning' is done. I know there are thousands of incredible teachers around the world who don't embrace the destruction of our natural talents and individuality, but who still feel stifled by a formal education system demanding standardization and 'basic skills'.

In the future, we will learn through connection to the actual world, not The Classroom. We will structure our environments so that young people can both learn and contribute to the world around the them, much as young people did for thousands of years before formal education came into existence. Having access to the internet deserves our attention - trying to get kids around the world into a 'formal classroom' does not. Do we need educators to act as guides, servants, explainers, coaches, mentors, etc.? Of course we do. Do we need to bring people of all ages, across all nations, together to learn what they are most driven to learn? Without a doubt.

I'm an educator. I don't need a formal school.
Megan Summers 500+
- 0
TEDx Organizer

Oct 7 2011: Thoughts on Dale J. Stevens Uncollege movement? (He was a grade 5 dropout, as well as a college dropout)

http://blip.tv/140confevents/140edu-8-2-11-dale-stephens-5469901
tony ekong
- 0
Oct 7 2011: the key is in the definition of the term formal education. It is formal if there is a recognition to the level of the education acquired. Therefore it is if there is an acknowledgment in terms of a degree.
Jim Moonan 30+
- +2
Oct 7 2011: I believe that education at all levels going forward needs to incorporate an "immersion" approach. Life is just getting too complicated to learn it in a two-dimensional kind of way (classroom). The world is now small enough and connected enough to become the new "classroom". We just need to figure out how to make the transformation.
Bryan Schmidt
- +1
Oct 7 2011: [quote] Christian Steins "so I believe some tablets /laptops stuffed with Wikipedia and educational videos will be the new great equalizer" [/quote]
With the development of cloud computing and virtual machines, simple tablets that are no more then a touch screen, simple speakers, a wireless connection, and minimal hardware spec's combined with a central server that hosts the machines. With the many flavors of linux getting more and more user friendly, there is little worry about the cost of operating systems for large amounts of virtual machines. Websites Google and Wolfram alpha have web based tools that schools could use for all types of classes. Who needs out dated textbooks when a science student can learn about the human body from a 3D model, study the planet and universe with google earth, which includes Earth, Moon, Mars, and Sky. The right approach can turn the internet into the great equalizer, within our formal education system.
Jennifer Nelson
- 0
Oct 7 2011: I think public libraries are the great equalizer for learning, providing a technology infrastructure that gives unfettered access to information, whether it is in the form of printed materials, audio, video, or internet-based, that people can use to build knowledge. Libraries meet people where they are, whether young children just learning to read, or aging adults needing to learn to use a keyboard and mouse for the first time.
Christian Steins
- 0
Oct 7 2011: I believe in developing counties, we are not having the infrastructure nor the resources to establish a decent formal education system. We need to use technology to bring education to the people who can't afford it or have no access to it. And I believe give the people the information and they will educate themselves, maybe not according to formal standards, but it will help them to make ends meet. For what I have seen in Malawi it will be difficult to establish an decent Internet infrastructure, so I believe some tablets /laptops stuffed with Wikipedia and educational videos will be the new great equalizer
Tony Barry
- 0
Oct 7 2011: The internet is wonderful source of ideas and information and entertainment for those who are sufficiently educated to access it. So as a formal education is required to actually use it then no, it's not.
Richard Jones
- +5
Oct 7 2011: These questions always strike me as bizarre and myopic. They are so self-centic to those of us who live and work amongst the poorest people of the world. What relevance does this false dichotomy, this binary between the internet and formal education, have to us? None. In Timor-Leste, according to the governments' latest statistics, 90% of the population use firewood for cooking, almost 70% live in serious to extreme poverty and less than 0.2%, mainly government workers and NGOs, have internet connections. Great equalizer huh? The great equalizer is feeding starving people, demanding access to decent health conditions, protecting the poor from exploitation and so on. Please try not to fetishize a technology that is overwhelmingly servicing an elite few and is most often the province of chatter with little real impact As we say here 'talk does not cook rice'.
- Suzanne Liese
  - +1
  Oct 7 2011: I agree with the sentiment here. These types of discussions highlight to me how educated, middle-class Americans are, by and large, so out of touch with the economic and sub-cultural reality of not just the world outside the U.S., but much of own citizens. We need to focus on first things, first. Water, sanitation, basic nutrition are still not part of the equation for billions on this planet.
- Sebastian R.
  - 0
  Oct 7 2011: anyway i think that internet access exists even in poor areas. But the Internet does not address their problems.
  There are places to learn math or quantum mechanics, but I am not aware of a place to learn how to grow food in a dry area or how to get a microcredit.
- Stephanie Schiffman-Marushia
  - +2
  Oct 7 2011: I'm repeating myself here, but check out the "Hole in the Wall School." If this were put into place (from donor computers), maybe the people would only be dependent on Western NGOs for a generation or two instead of much longer. They can learn about farming and microcredit on the internet, I think our money would be well spent putting these "Hole in the Wall" computers into villages and letting the education spread organically. Why not have privileged Americans raise money for water pumps, farming, AND donate computers and money for the internet. That way they could have clean water and eventually learn to maintain it themselves. Let the kids lead the way. This isn't an either/or proposition; if Western schools each adopted a village (and enjoyed the relationships and cultural exchange this would allow), we could very quickly drastically increase the literacy rate in a few generations AND being working on the problems you mention. And thank you for the work you are doing.
  - Richard Jones
    
    0
    Oct 8 2011: Stephanie, thanks for your comment. I know the Hole in the Wall people. We a struggling at the moment with a prior basic - electricity. About 82% of Timorese do not have access to electricity. Solar power is coming slowly, donating and installing would be a magnificent help before or at the same time as computers. Generators are most often highly polluting, difficult to maintain and of course develop a cycle of debt - money for the petrol or diesel. Its solar power kits and computers that are needed, ideally together but if not solar kits first for my money.
- Thomas Campbell
  - 0
  Oct 7 2011: @Richard: Ummm...this discussion is not for 3rd world people without access to the Internet, so calling it myopic or self-centric IS bizarre. Of COURSE it's irrelevant to those living without the basics of climate control and (fairly) reliable electicity and microwave dinners and filtered water available on tap--or in bottles from the supermarket. This discussion isn't for those folks any more than a discussion of the relative dangers of cholera vs. malaria or leprosy vs. the plague are applicable to most of us here in America. Those folks are not going to "catch up" with the industrialized or information-based economies of the rest of the world no matter how much education OR Internet access we provide--at least, not in my lifetime. To those of us writing from comfy chairs with laptops over wireless connections sipping a non-fat, low-foam Chai Tea Latté (with a splash of Pumpkin Spice!) in Starbucks, however, the discussion is very relevant. I've heard a lot of rumblings, lately, about the lessened value of formal education, and how it has a reduced and lengthened time to recoup the ROI, and a lot of sage, elder folks are giving advice to young folks about the alternative educations available, like vocational schools and such. But I'll tell you this: as a society, we still respect (and for our leaders, we EXpect) those degrees. Consequently, the difference in where you will end up in life with and without a degree is going to remain large for quite some time, Internet or no. Further, the most valuable things I learned at school during my years of formal education were NOT the knowledge itself (most of which has a shelf-life and hard expiration date) but my learning about a larger world through encounters with people from other cultures, my skills at time management and prioritization, the moral and ethical guidance from my instructors, the ability to organize thoughts and speak and interact with my fellow students, teachers and those I mentored along the way.
  - Richard Jones
    
    +1
    Oct 8 2011: Ummm Thomas.... a conversation point about people who don't have access to internet because of poverty is not relevant to you, your laptop and your armchair, and by extension others? You do them a disservice, read their comments.
    
    Your statement "This discussion isn't for those folks any more than a discussion of the relative dangers of cholera vs. malaria or leprosy vs. the plague are applicable to most of us here in America" is tragically self-centred. Look around you.There are people FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD commenting about situations in both the 'developed' and 'underdeveloped' worlds. Must an issue discussed here only be for "most of us here in America"! Are you a site administrator?
    
    Re your "cholera vs. malaria" comment. Sure some health issues don't affect you and me directly, like malaria, which isn't a problem where I am from - Australia. However I happen to believe, alongside millions of others, that just because a problem doesn't touch me directly, it doesn't mean I shouldn't or can't discuss, care, donate, advocate, take action and so on. To do otherwise would be the very definition of myopia, also known as nearsightedness.
Louis Buccino
- 0
Oct 7 2011: The internet will not solve all problems or teach all lessons well; it may not ever parallel in-person experience, but it certainly starts to level the playing field for those with logistical challenges such as access, timing or financial constraints.

Not everyone can or will make it to/through formal education; the internet provides a reasonable, viable option that simply didn't exist for the prior generation or for those in third world countries a decade or two ago.

Bravo efficacious, distance learning; but I realize now that I was so fortunate to attend a traditional university.
Kriste Brushaber
- 0
Oct 7 2011: I lack a "formal" education (no college), and my high school experience was appalling. Today, I am an effective movement coach who is often a last resort for those who have spent precious years of their life needlessly suffering from pathologies that no well "educated" doctor or therapist could help resolve. My clients include doctors, lawyers, athletes, school teachers, homemakers, and service workers. I have successfully coached scores of people, and continue to evolve my work through experience, research by internet, books and seminars, and collaborating with other professionals sharing current knowledge.

There are, and will always be, a multitude of ways to learn, grow, and become amazing practitioners of life. It's not the knowledge itself, but the application and experience of it, becoming wisdom to build new possibilities upon. Formal education institutions (as they stand today) are too rigid, bogged-down by dualistic egos, red tape, and overworked teachers who are brilliant yet can't fully do what they were put on this Earth to do so are burnt out (I personally know several). This is stifling creativity and potential. Currently, the internet is the only knowledge sharing source accessible to a wider population, able to keep up with the flow, relevance and pace of life itself, which has sped up considerably over the past couple decades. It's allowing individuals to awaken to their true potential, albeit a somewhat chaotic process after being repressed.

There will be a new role for formal education, hopefully more mentoring and apprenticeship, AND the recognition that some people can create a whole new, necessary profession, just by being intuitive, observant, and motivated. No matter HOW someone became who they are, as long as they are contributing and thriving in a relevant way that is directing humanity toward a great future, it's all good. This is the great equalizer: our differences and our unique gifts are our collective strength.
vince vernile
- +2
Oct 7 2011: If, by the internet, you include all current forms of "social media", then the answer MUST be yes.
The free-flow of ideas, in both directions, (such as this discussion), has the potential to surpass everything the human species has dreamed up, to date.
We are on the verge of being a QUANTUM SOCIETY, each individual allowed to learn what they please, and share all that education with all others who wish to know.
No rules.
I've learned more from TED talks than anything I was ever exposed to, before the 'internet revolution'.
ALL of my teachers, (back in the day), had 5-year-old teachers' editions, with the 'answers' in the back, (they didn't know the truth of anything). And the info they had was outdated.
The biggest problem with the internet, is in the verification of these stated 'facts', the ability to put these 'facts' into an appropriate context, and the control of who is 'allowed' to have this knowledge.
Anyone with a keyboard and internet connection can Google anythiing, and get a precise, one-meaning answer to anything.
The issue becomes 'how correct is this information, to YOUR specific query.
But we still require some sort of formal education system, to teach us how to use, or not use this technique of learning and teaching.
I do not believe we (as a society) will ever allow it to fully replace our antiquated form of educational system.
The internet makes us all equal, yet, for the most part, anonymous.
We all have access to the same information. Sometimes it's mildly inaccurate (in context), massively incorrect (wrong), or outdated (from old posts, that cannot be removed).
But at least we ALL have it, equally.
Jing Zhang
- 0
Oct 7 2011: On a intellectual basis, Internet is far more powerful than college education in a way that the resources on the internet is limitless. Sitting in the lecture hall is the process of passively receiving what the instructors would like you know and what the instrutors think essential, leaving the student little room for a criticle thinking process. Whatever work is a hand-on experience that requires more of active learning than passive receiving. I don't do all regular courses at the university while I do work in the lab as a research assistant which I believe is more constructive to me as both a student and a person.

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