There is a belief that the school system has become useless today because the Internet allows children to acquire knowledge at home. This essay disagrees with this opinion as the internet may provide people with deceptive information, and students may fail to process it without any assistance from a teacher.
Firstly, every individual can post anything on the internet. Some user-generated sources like Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, and the data may be false or misleading. For this reason, people, especially students, cannot fully rely on facts provided on the web. Moreover, the information provided by some bloggers may be outdated, irrelevant, and inaccurate. To illustrate, when I was doing research into the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I came across contradicting facts in different versions of Wikipedia. Consequently, I requested my school history teacher to recommend me reliable sources of information to finish my report.
Secondly, without a teacher’s help, students often fail to properly analyze a vast array of information they can access in cyberspace. This is because schoolchildren often lack developed higher order thinking skills such as critical thinking, and they get distracted when overwhelmed by the data they find online. Instead, a teacher can explain the material so it is understandable for children’s minds. Furthermore, an expert explanation allows students to learn a topic faster and easier. For example, when my friend was in the fifth grade, he wanted to study some Biology material that is normally taught in the seventh grade via the Internet by himself. As a result, he failed to understand anything and lost motivation to study the subject.
In conclusion, I hold the view that the Internet cannot replace school education because it may contain false information and students may fail to acquire knowledge without any teachers’ assistance.
