Legislation is pending in the General Assembly that would require students to take at least one Core 40 course online. This could be a good thing, but our hope is that the state doesn’t go overboard.
The Internet dominates many lives in this day and age. Kids and adults spend hours online, doing work, researching and just surfing. This is not going to change. In fact, the necessity of having online access will be increasingly important as the years go by.
This technology has made life easier. For example, students in past generations would have to go to the library and seek out multiple volumes to do a research project. Today, the answer to most questions is the click of a mouse away. Documents, news reports, historical essays, even encyclopedia entries are online.
But easier is not always better. Students need to learn the way the world works firsthand and not be content to be a spectator. The importance of the physical classroom and the interactions of students and teachers are all necessary to a well-rounded social being. Online classes cannot take the place of a diverse, inquisitive, sometimes noisy, always lively classroom. The learning process is more than processing facts online and then writing them back for a test.
Schools are also balking at the proposed legislation, saying they cannot handle any more unfunded mandates from the state. These classes would require shifts in software that could be costly. It comes down to this: If the state thinks online classes are a valuable educational tool, then the state has to pay for it. In other words, the state has to put its money where its mouth is, and we couldn’t agree more.
Because the future belongs to online and other technological innovations, mastering computers is an important part of education. Kokomo schools recently said they wanted all students outfitted with a laptop computer, which is a common sight for college students. If the funding is there, go for it. Such a move would accelerate students’ learning and make it easier to access an online class.
The state seems to be going in the right direction for online classes, but there are a lot of bugs to work out. Before legislators jump rashly into online classes, there needs to be a lot of thought and input from educators and parents via public hearings. That’s the right way.
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