Earlier in February, the annual TED conference was held. The TED conference was started in 1984 by a nonprofit organization in order to spread revolutionary ideas that could change and better the world. One million dollars is awarded to the person with the best idea that could potentially benefit the most people. Sugata Mitra’s award winning idea was that student’s do not need teachers as much as they rely on them today. Mitra, who teaches at Newcastle University, conducted an experiment with the underprivileged children in New Delhi, India. He set up one computer for public use without telling the kids how to use it. The children not only taught themselves how to use and navigate with the computer, but they also taught themselves how to read English without prior knowledge of the language. Mitra’s TED speech suggested that with the help of technology, students would be able to learn on their own.

Although it is definitely possible for students to learn on their own, they still need a motivation to learn. Teachers provide a helping hand to keep students on the right path, and without them, students could be lead astray by distractions like television and video games. Technology can be distracting, but it also has an infinite amount of resources and learning programs that could be used in the classroom. “Teachers realize that the Internet plays a huge part in a teen’s life, so they might incorporate technology into class lessons,” says Lindsay Wigo (‘16). Using educational sites is a fun and modern way to learn, and more and more people are beginning to realize that students find it easier to learn with a computer. “Google has so many sources of information for any topic, I’d have a good chance of learning and understanding the topic,” says Lindsay. Hopefully, the TED award-winning idea will bring a change in schooling that will incorporate technology and allow students to have the opportunity to teach themselves.