While browsing CNN this interesting article caught my eye because the title was "Will online classes make professors extinct?." The title immediately shocked me because the idea of professors becoming extinct was something I could not believe but after reading this article it seems more likely that eventually this could happen. In 2013, a report was done by the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and it concluded that the percentage of tenure track positions has gone down from 78% in 1969 to 33% today. This report is quite shocking and I believe that if all college professors were replaced with computers, students would be negatively affected.
According to the author, "In this season of economic uncertainty, the urge to convert traditional classes into impersonal, large-scale online courses is becoming irresistible to colleges and universities less committed to the sacred bond between teacher and student." The author is explaining how it is becoming more diffilcutlt for colleges to resist replacing professors with online classes or filmed lectures because it is a lot cheaper than paying a professor to teach live. Unfourtanetely, although doing classes online is cheaper and easier I believe that a student gets more out of a class when the personally know their teachers and can create bonds with them. I know from experience that I learn best when I know my teacher and they can directly interact with the class and make learning interesting. I think it's very hard for a computer to come alive and be a teach with the same enthusiasm as a teacher.
Obviously if all professors were replaced it would not happen for a while but I can not help but think that there is a possibility that kids generations from now will be taught by computers or other technological tools, not real, live people.
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