Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

‘Disrupting’ Public Schools for Competitiveness

May 20, 2008 1 min read
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To the Editor:

I was encouraged by the findings of Clayton M. Christensen’s new book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, as reported in “Online Education Cast as ‘Disruptive Innovation’ ” (May 7, 2008).

In saying that half of high schools courses will be taught over the Internet by 2019, Mr. Christensen has correctly predicted that online learning will have a major say in the way American students are educated over the next 10 years. Online education is not something that needs to be feared by educators, but embraced.

U.S. educators are facing increasing competition from sources providing services that traditionally were offered by public schools. Today, parents have alternatives such as private tutoring, home schooling, and private schools. If public schools want to stay competitive and maximize their decreasing resources, they will have to turn to low-cost, high-tech answers such as online education and computer-based learning. The education problems of the 21st century call for 21st-century answers.

Harman Singh

Chief Executive Officer

WiZiQ

Raleigh, N.C.

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A version of this article appeared in the May 21, 2008 edition of Education Week as ‘Disrupting’ Public Schools For Competitiveness

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