Do we still need teachers, with the Internet?

Have you ever realized that an average college graduate knows more Physics than Galileo Galilee? The Physics of projectile motion (throw anything sturdy into the air-that’s it) is well-known to college students. During Galileo’s time, explaining projectile motion was the most advanced scientific research! Now, a college graduate knows Kinematics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Atomic theory.

Suppose an average college graduate exchange places with Galileo and enters 16th century Pisa, while Galileo, with his very basic knowledge of Physics, enters the 21st century. Who will make more original research breakthroughs? I think Galileo will!

What’s my point? Though the Internet gives easy access to information, it never gives easy access to one thing: how to think. That’s Galileo’s advantage. Hence, if the government wants to use the Internet as an educational tool, the DepEd must ensure a change in teaching paradigm. Teaching in the Internet-era should focus less on information and more on thinking. It should focus less on facts and more on fact-analysis, less on what I know and more on what I do with what I know. Achieving this, then perhaps we can make greater discoveries than Galileo had.