THE CLASSROOM AND THE COMPUTER SCREEN Online Education | Page 16

sympathy and fellowship. Yet this
capacity—promising as it is—remains
hemmed in by the limitations of fiber-
optic wires, dish antennas, wireless
routers and video monitors. Physical
classroom spaces do not share these
limitations. They can capture the
embodied charisma of a teacher, the
brisk hum of group productivity, the
intensity of ideas forthrightly
expressed, the surprise of knowledge
freshly gained, the shared experience
of pains and rewards that accompany
academic discipline, and the personal
idiosyncrasies of every individual
present. These ingredients produce the
sympathy and fellowship of a great
education. Nothing can ever match a
living and present human body. Thus,
online classrooms, even at their best,
will always fall short of an ideal
education. Brick-and-mortar
classrooms often fall short too, despite
their greater capacity for meaningful
human interaction. The perfect
education will elude most of us, but as
we consider the options we face in the
real world, the principles of sympathy
and fellowship help us sort through
them.
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