I live in Brazil (one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to education) and would like to weigh in with my conclusions:
- Self-learning requires students that are actually motivated to learn by themselves. Most students here aren't: even though they have internet access at home and/or at school, they only use it for social media, porn, etc... and will scoff at the thought of anything that requires them to actually read and understand stuff - they will only read a book if they are forced to, and even then, they will do it while whining endlessly.
- Schools are worse: underpaid teachers (a teacher here makes less than a dishwasher in the USA or in Europe) which will get scolded (or fired) for telling a student to shut up and pay attention or for failing someone that never participated in class. Completely destroyed schools, in no small part due to gangs which destroy them as a demonstration of power and to ensure a next generation of children/teenagers entering crime.
- Throwing technology at the students? Has been tried with mixed results: while it significantly increased interest, one of the schools had to keep their OLPCs on a heavily locked room to avoid thieves; you do not dare to send a kid walking home with theirs, lest someone rob them and trade for drugs.
In short: teachers are not headed for obsolescence in any way, at least here; if you want to obsolete yours, we will be very happy to accept them.
