Some people feel that with the rise of artificial intelligence, computers and robots will take over the roles of teachers. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

 

Some people feel that with the rise of artificial intelligence, computers and robots will take over the roles of teachers. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

With ever-mushrooming technological advances, computers and robots are substituting human roles in different areas of society. This trend can also be seen in education, where interactive programs can enhance the educational experience for children and young adults. Whether, however, this revolution can also take over the role of the teacher completely is debatable, and oppose this idea as it is unlikely to serve students well.

The roles of computers and robots can be seen in multiple areas of the workplace. Classic examples are car factories where a lot of the repetitive precision jobs done on assembly lines have been performed by robots for a number of years, and medicine, where diagnosis, and treatment, including operations, have also been assisted by computers for a long time. According to the media, it would not also be long until we have cars that are driven automatically.

It has long been discussed whether robots and computers can do this in education. It is well known that the complexity of programs can now adapt to so many situations that something can already be set up that has the required knowledge of the teacher, along with the ability to predict and answer all questions that might be asked by students. In fact, due to the nature of computers, the knowledge levels can far exceed a teacher's and have more breadth, as a computer can have equal knowledge in all the subjects that are taught in school, as opposed to a single teacher's specialisation. It seems very likely, therefore, that computers and robots should be able to deliver the lessons that teachers can, including various ways of differentiating and presenting materials to suit the varying abilities and ages of students.

Where I am not convinced is in the pastoral role of teachers. Part of teaching is managing behaviour and showing empathy with students so that they feel cared for and important. Even if a robot or computer can be programmed to imitate these actions, students will likely respond differently when they know an interaction is part of an algorithm rather than based on human emotion.

To conclude, although I feel that computers should be able to perform a lot of the roles of teachers in the future, they ought to be used as educational tools to assist teachers and not replace them. In this way, students would receive the benefits of both ways of instruction.