Forgive me for saying so, but I enjoy going to school Monday through Friday.
Not just the actual privilege of attending class, but also the physical routine of waking up, five days a week, to attend those classes. It anchors my higher aspirations and gives me a reason to wake up at a respectable hour on a consistent basis.
Plus, if getting an undergraduate degree is basic training for joining the workforce, it should revolve around roughly the same schedule. Not to say we students should be on campus 40 hours a week (though some are), I nevertheless believe we should get used to the routine that will be a pervasive one for much of our adult lives.
We wake up, take care of our obligations and have the rest of the day — and the precious weekend — to pursue our own interests.
Taking online classes, however, flies in the face of that routine.
An online class is an education deferred. While I don’t wholly begrudge their existence, I cannot escape the impression that an online class is no better than, let’s say, a computer tutorial on how to use Microsoft Excel.
If the University is teaching material so simple one doesn’t even need an instructor to comprehend it, perhaps ASU should be taking a harder look at why these classes exist in the first place.
I am currently enrolled in an online class and find myself rather unconvinced of its usefulness. In fact, I sometimes forget I’m even enrolled to begin with. I’ll log onto Blackboard, look at my class list and see an unfamiliar class name staring back at me. Then, I’ll complete whatever quiz or assignment I need to, log off, forget about the class and repeat the process a week later.
Yet, despite my constant omissions, at the end of the semester I will receive just as many credits for it as I would in a conventional attendance-based class.
This situation probably delights most students, but I can’t help but feel I’ve been somehow cheated. An education, in my view, requires physical attendance, a physical textbook and a physical classroom with a very present instructor.
A job entails physical attendance, a physical office and a very present boss, unless one is lucky enough to work from home. But for most of us, the option of having an “online job” is, well, not exactly in the cards.
I highly doubt the U.S. Department of State offers “online diplomat” positions, or Foster and Partners are looking for an “online architect.”
Technology moves quickly, and society often no longer has time for the pursuits of yesteryear. However, routines and obligations will always require us to wake up before we’d prefer and travel somewhere we’d rather not.
While online classes may temporarily allay that inevitability, they omit the possible joys of it.
Alex is most likely at school and can be reached at alexander.petrusek@asu.edu.
