How education and educators have changed over time

July 16, 2019 celebrated as Guru Purnima day in India. This is a day in the Indian tradition, dedicated to the spiritual and academic teachers, who are enlightened individuals and who share their wisdom with young students, with very little or no monetary expectation. It is celebrated as a festival in India by students to revere their chosen teachers and express their gratitude. 

The festival is celebrated on the full moon day (Purnima) in the month of Ashadha (June–July).  It is also the birthday of Vyasa who composed the the great Indian epic Mahabharata.

I have been a teacher for more than half a century and enjoyed every minute of it.  It was a joy for me to see the faces of young and enthusiastic (some of them, not so much) students, eager to learn. To me, it was more like acting on a stage, where the subject is the same but the audience is different each semester. It was both a challenge as well as exciting to make my teaching enjoyable, educative and enlightening to the new students each semester. 

Reflecting back after so many years, I feel happy and gratified that I have loved what I was doing and been a facilitator of knowledge for hundreds of young students.

I was a teacher before the Internet era. Acquiring knowledge in that era was mostly either from the teacher or from the books. That type of learning existed for centuries. In the early centuries, teachers were completely dedicated to acquiring and dispensing knowledge. Those who wanted to learn had to go to them, stay with them and acquire knowledge. There were no written books at that time and knowledge was transmitted entirely by voice communication. 

The invention of printing changed and revolutionized the method of teaching and learning. Teachers became more dispensers of knowledge that is already available but in a

concise form in text books. 

Teachers had to use their expertise to explain what was in the books and also further guide the students to the right sources to obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the subject. This is where the ability of a teacher and his/her willingness to make the students understand the subject became important. Some teachers were extraordinarily good and some were not so good. There were also people in that profession because they could not get any other job. It used to be said that ‘A bad mechanic would destroy a machine, A bad teacher would destroy a whole generation’. 

For me, fortunately, most of my teachers were extremely capable and good communicators. Availability of knowledge was also dependent upon the wealth of a country. Rich nations were able to acquire excellent teachers as well as excellent laboratories and libraries.

This resulted in a lopsided development in education in various parts of the world. In particular, scientific knowledge dispensation became much more lopsided. In my own case, I still remember the crude and primitive equipment I had to work, during my doctoral research days and how different it was when I came to the United States for my post doctoral work. 

The invention of computers and the internet changed everything. Practically, anything on

any subject can now be obtained from the internet. This has somewhat leveled the field between developed and developing nations. Now, children in the remotest part of the globe can log on to the internet and obtain the information they wish, on any subject. However, in terms of scientific and technological facilities, there is still a huge gap between the developing countries and the developed countries. 

Further, since the rich countries can afford to pay and hence attract the best talented teachers from all over the world, they have a huge advantage over the less developed countries.

The question then, is do we still need teachers? Are they still needed?  If we do, what role should they play in dispensing knowledge in this internet age? It is clear, that the teacher is no more the primary source from which the students acquire their knowledge. 

This is further complicated by the fact that the conventional subjects are slowly disappearing and being replaced by interdisciplinary subjects. The proverbial ‘Logic, Magic and Music’ has become the norm in the modern era.  

Technologies in other areas such as the robotics and artificial intelligence also changing the learning process.  The teacher, now, is more a facilitator rather than a knowledge provider. His/her role has dramatically changed. 

But, in my opinion, a teacher is still not dispensable. He/she has a major role to play in guiding the students through the huge amount of information (not always either correct or the right information). The teacher, can guide the student to the right information and facilitate his/her acquiring the right knowledge through the maze of information that is available.

Interestingly, the role of the teacher’s love for acquiring and passing knowledge to the students has not changed at all. I had learnt over all the years of my teaching, the first and most important quality that must be present in a teacher is the love for the teaching and love for his/her students.

That will never change.

Raman Kolluri

July 2019