As Robots take over most other kinds of what we presently call “work” (a takeover that is starting to get much attention by economists,
per: http://economistsview.typepad.com/...),
And as the challenges facing teachers continue to mount (per recent Dkos diaries: http://www.dailykos.com/... and http://www.dailykos.com/...),
Could we encourage all knowledgeable people to engage in part-time teaching, and
Couldn’t this accomplish the following?
1. Reduce teacher-student ratios down towards 3:1 or even 2:1 (wouldn’t small tutorials like those of Oxford U. be even more valuable for primary and secondary students than for University students?)
2. Increase each student’s number of subjects and teachers up to or past a few dozen per year (resulting in more chances for discovery of each student’s particular interests and talents, and exposure to more variety of subjects, perspectives and adult personalities).
3. Reduce the related pressure and fatigue (making it more attractive to older people).
4. Refine the knowledge of the people doing the teaching (the best way to refine and retain what you know is to explain it in various ways until it is understood by somebody else).
5. Enable full-time professional teachers to focus more on the essential function of helping students integrate what they learn from this variety of subjects and teachers.
6. Teach our young to be people, rather than to be computers (if emulation is a major element of learning, then won’t computer-taught students emulate computers?).