Main, Diane -- 3 Interesting Facts I Did Not Previously Know

Over Memorial Day weekend, I watched almost the entire series America: A History of US on the History Channel. A recurring theme was that technology, especially advances in communication, often was the catalyst for moving our country forward. I have never really considered how communication technology has also been the vehicle for distance education long before the Internet existed. Once my eyes had been opened to including correspondence courses, radio, television, and other media as earlier forms of distance education, the assigned article uncovered these three facts I had not previously known:

1. I had no idea that so much research had been done on the use of radio and television in education. Of course, it makes sense that there would have been, but as I said, I had never really thought much about these earlier methods used in distance education. I was fascinated by the findings listed on pages 6 and 7 of the article.

2. Along similar lines, I had no idea that PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting arose out of an identified need for effective educational opportunities for people living in inner cities. I grew up watching Sesame Street, so the CPB name is synonymous with that show in my mind. I also watched Electric Company, Zoom, 3-2-1 Contact, and similar shows on PBS, and I am just now realizing that they were ahead of textbook publishers and all other broadcast media I had seen in my youth in depicting all kinds of people and families.

3. On page 24 of the article, there is a quote from Toffler that exposes not just how our courses of study have been dictated by an outdated model (industrial), but even what was expected and required “covertly” – namely, punctuality, obedience, and rote/repetitive tasks and memorization – derived from what factories needed. Schools today are more like class-taking factories than institutions of learning, and distance education can break this mold somewhat. I had never really considered this before. I have often wondered if we will ever be able to break away from the academic calendar imposed by our former agrarian society’s needs; however, I never really thought about how what we consider “modern education” is still based on a lifestyle and society over a hundred years in the past.