How much has the world changed

How much has the world changed

The world has changed; people all over the globe can now work and communicate together in ways that were never before possible in history. The basic change we can see is in technology.

Information and communication technology such as email, instant massages, the internet and video conferencing has completely changed the way of humans’ communication. All important information today is linked electronically.

 “Recent technological advances are bringing about changes in business organizations that will be as dramatic as the rise of democracy was to government.”{Thomas Malone}

Interesting thing isn’t how technology has changed but how technology has changed all of us in education. Technological improvement has made easy access to education resulting in more people being educated. Education ultimately changes societies as people inculcate a better understanding of the world and put their superstitious views and old-fashioned thoughts to rest. Societies have undergone a remarkable change in the past few decades and shall continue to do so in the future.

“Along with language, religion and social structure, technology is   part of the culture of given people and perhaps more than any other element is used to shape and illustrate a society’s values and beliefs.”{W.Bernard Carlson}

When we talk about educational technology, immediately computers come to our minds. Computers are very fast in running different programs and have not only benefited the economical but also the educational world. On the other hand computer technology has harmed world history in a way that even children are exposed to the media and most of them get spoiled at an early age because of easy exposure to pornography.

Change in the light of History:

The world has changed in leaps and bounds in a number of different fields such as human rights, industry medicine etc. The interesting part is that all of these changes are accredited to education. For example, 600 years ago the average life span back in the Middle Ages was only 24 due to famine and diseases. Since there was little education and no knowledge in the field of science and medicine, there were no doctors to control the spread of diseases and as a result 25% of population died in Europe during a 4-year period (1347-1354) by the black plague.

Today the average life is almost tripled (68). Due to better medical practises, better knowledge of science and proper hygiene, diseases out breaks like the one that occurred back in the 14^th century very seldom happen.

CHANGES IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION:

To understand and see the contrast of the education systems in the past and in today’s world let’s consider one of today’s most technologically advanced country, the United States of America:
In the 18^th century, all of the schools were small, with a limited undergraduate curriculum oriented on the liberal arts. Students were drilled in Greek, Latin, geometry, ancient history, logic, ethics and rhetoric, with few discussions, little homework and no lab sessions. There were no organized sports. Tuition was very low and scholarships were few.
There were no schools of law in the colonies. However, a few lawyers studied at the highly prestigious Inns of Court in London, while the majority served apprenticeships with established American lawyers. Medicine was in rudimentary condition. In the 18th century, 117 Americans had graduated in medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland. In New York, the medical department of King's College was established in 1767, and in 1770 awarded the first American M.D. degree.

This can be contrasted with today where nearly every American is educated and state- of- the- art technologies and resources are available.

In addition to that if we see hundred years ago at U.S.A’s progress we realise that indeed the world has changed ‘a lot’. Some statistical evidences of 1906 are:

·        The average life expectancy in the U.S was 47 years.

·        There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only 144 miles of paved roads.

·        The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10mph.

·        Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

·        Two out of every 10 U.S. adults could not read or write.

·        Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Conclusion:

After seeing some historical facts we can see a drastic change in every walk of life, technology improved our life style and made better our quality of life. In general we can say “world has changed” a lot, education system has developed. Now we are having many facilities to improve our knowledge and learn more and more. Everyone has an easy access of internet.

Are the upcoming generations getting benefited by all these?

We can say we did excel in our development but we have declined in our moral values. In the next century where will we be? How we can stop this decline of our moral values.

Gerhard Fischer mentioned:

 “Information overload, the advent of high-functionality systems, and a climate of rapid technological change have created new problems and challenges for education and training. “

I am not condemning development, the point I intend to emphasize is to monitor use of developed media so that we may attain excellence in education and all other fields but not at the cost of moral values.