I live in Idaho. What you all think about it is correct. It's mostly rural. The average wage and the average property tax don't cover costs well. My county just extended a special tax approved by us just to pay for existing schools. Some of the schools could use some serious upgrading. These smaller school districts cannot afford to offer every possible course. There exist a lot of gaps that cannot be filled in with more teachers because they cost money and who wants to fund a class with a total of 5 students each year?
Out here, most of the talk is about the requirement to take two online courses to graduate. I hear less talk about a cool new toy. That's a benefit. One student is taking Chinese which isn't offered in the school. She is also taking Algebra to get ahead. Just think of the possible benefits here. You can take courses which will benefit you. You can take courses off track if the schedules don't work. You become used to the idea of self training which will be a benefit the rest of your life.
When done right, think of what a good course will do. It could push you harder. It will take great teachers and stream video lectures which should be more informative than a normal teacher. Think of Kahn and what he's done.
And for those of you who think I'm too pie in the sky, yes, I realize it will take time. Yes, I realize mistakes will be made. But by just sticking with a teacher only method, we limit ourselves and someone will figure out how to make the best use of technology to teach. If Idaho does it right it will be a combination of hardware AND the correct application of technology with online courses, education supplements, and other tools that enable students. If a few teachers jobs are lost along the way I'm not going to cry over it. We transitioned from elevator operators to fully automated elevators without destroying our society. Changing to role of teachers and giving them tools to leverage their skills would be a good thing.
