In the future, students may have the choice of studying at home by using technology such as computers or televisions or of studying at traditional schools. Which would you prefer? Use reasons and specific details to explain your choice.
Within several decades, the rapid developing technology enables almost every family to get access to the internet at home. Educational television programs were introduced to families for their convenience and vividness. It seems natural that people would gradually switch from traditional schools to internet based or television based education. However, this never happened. Why? Because traditional schools possess many essential qualities for more effective education which can hardly be replicated by internet and television. For the better-being of the students, I prefer traditional schools as the ideal mean for education.
At first glance, internet and television seem to provide much more flexibility on time for the students. The fact is that this flexibility might just inhibit the process of effective learning. At such young ages, self-control is quite limited in students. Even at schools, students often disobey the rules and disregard the schedules. It is not difficult to conceive that most students, at home, would indulge in the freedom and never follow the schedule, if they have ever bothered to make one. While at school, from morning to evening, students are constantly under supervision of teachers who play an active role in transmitting knowledge, thus students are more likely to absorb information in a school environment.
Second, traditional schools are far more interactive in teaching than internet and television. No matter how vividly today's technology imitates the interactive environment, internet and television are still too rigid and unrealistic. For instance, in traditional classrooms, when listening to a lecture, students can directly ask questions if they don't follow and immediately receive feedback. Teachers would also be able to observe the students’ behavior in order to adjust the pace and content. Meanwhile, on the internet, students can hardly have the opportunity to raise questions which they might just forget eventually because of procrastination.
Last but not least, traditional schools guarantee the students a social environment full of peers. From the very first day in kindergarten, children are forced to socialize with other kids. Years of schooling will help students make friends, learn to cooperate and deal with people they do not like. Such a learning process is a necessity for their future working and living. We have learnt that students who were home schooled, often turned out to be lacking of social skills and friends, let alone studying via cold computers and televisions.
In summary, even though computer and television provide us with an alternative way of studying, the status of traditional schools cannot be replaced. Students will surely benefit more from traditional schools both academically and psychologically.