It is the last day of classes before summer break and emotions are running high throughout the school.  In one of the classrooms, a young student is tearfully giving her final goodbyes to her favorite teacher.  “I am going to miss you so much and I cannot wait to see you in the fall when I come back to school”, the pupil exclaims.  The stunned teacher does not know how to respond to the distress that her student is clearly going through.  She desires to give the girl a hug and explain how everything will be fine because they will meet again in just a few short months… but sadly, that statement would be false.  The odds are against them because a few weeks ago, the beloved teacher received the horrid pink slip- stating that she was being terminated from her job.  The severing of her employment was not for personal reasons, since her evident passion for teaching caused her to be appreciated by both her students and coworkers.  She was let go for circumstances out of her control: robots hijacked her job and there was nothing she could do about it.  This scenario is something that may become a real predicament in the near future, to the dismay of many individuals throughout the world.  While there are various benefits of having robotic teachers, robots will never have the capability of being a truly effective instructor because machines are unable to complete much of the tasks expected of teachers, lack empathy, and cannot inspire young minds.

The robotic apocalypse has already begun and it is only the start of the twenty-first century.  This rapid revelation has forced some research to be conducted on the matter in order to predict the future path of the workforce.  Luckily, numerous experts have stated that robots will not be taking over the field of teaching anytime soon and the profession is a reliable option to consider when choosing an occupation.  Oxford University thoroughly studied over 700 areas of work and published a report that describes how all jobs in education are safe from impersonal machines.  A teacher can be actively involved in preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, or college studies- it does not matter.  In all of these sectors of education, teachers possess crucial skills that robots have not yet perfected (Frey and Osborne 36-42).  Even with such promising research, society is still in doubt when it comes to job security in teaching because of the increase usage of online learning.  Lectures from well-known universities can be watched on a computer, tutoring is easy to receive from a website called Khan Academy, and most colleges offer online courses to those who cannot or do not want to physically show up to class.  On the other hand, dropout rates for online courses are unbelievably high… why is this the case?  The reason is quite simple- students still prefer a tangible classroom experience, opposed to being taught by a machine (Purewal 2-3).

To start off with, robots do not have the ability to fully replace teachers because the occupation requires an infinite number of tasks to be completed that are outside the realm of teaching.  Being an excellent teacher consists not only of delivering information to an interested audience, but also doing other duties that make the classroom setting run smoothly.  Teachers are expected to oversee clubs, help in school performances, plan field trips, meet overbearing parents, and much more.  Robots cannot even accomplish the few duties listed, never mind considering the fact that the stated responsibilities barely begin to cover everything that a teacher is expected to do in a timely manner.  After all, government statistics have shown that “almost a third of teachers who began their career in 2010 quit the classroom within five years of qualifying” (Weale 1-5).  This situation is caused by teachers being forced to stretch themselves out too thin and complete an overbearing amount of tedious work, tasks that robots cannot even accomplish.  If human teachers are currently being defeated by difficult workloads, then it is impossible for robots to be able to successfully do such tasks.  

Next, robots are unable to be outstanding teachers because machines lack the quality of empathy, which is an essential tool in a classroom setting.  LIke said before, teaching is more than just stating knowledge to uninformed individuals.  In a way, teachers are similar to those who take part in a theater production.  Instructing can be thought of as a “performance, it’s reading the room and working it” (Purewal 6).  Human teachers have the useful capability of noticing the behaviors of their students and adapting accordingly.  If a lesson being taught is boring, confusing, or incomprehensible, teachers are generally able to pick up on issues through clues and fix any situations that arise.  On the contrary, technology has not been created to decipher the emotional or mental state of human beings, which will result in students needs not being catered to if robots take over the teaching profession.  This will lead to students falling behind in their studies, which will have catastrophic consequences when these individuals are expected to apply their educational knowledge in the world or work (Mubin and Ahmad 3-9).  

Lastly, robots lack the strength to take over the occupation of teaching because machines are in no way, shape, or form inspirational.  While robots may be able to deliver intellectual content, technology is incapable of fulfilling a facet of teaching that can be contemplated as the most critical part of instructing, which is motivating.  Teachers are the individuals who motivate students to strive for greatness and become the best person they can possibly be.  The hard work, compassion, and devotion of instructors are the qualities that aid in shaping students into productive members of society.  Teachers are the adults who inspire students to follow their dreams and gain the confidence to succeed in whatever obstacle is thrown their way through relentless support.  Sadly, robots will not have the same effect on students as human teachers do.  Robots are detached and passionless, which will create individuals who just walk through the motions.  Machines do not have feelings and are indifferent on whether or not someone prospers.  Students engulfed in this atmosphere day-in and day-out will feel isolated, causing them to believe that no one cares about their well-being.  This will result in troubled children turning into anxious adults- which kills any hope for advancement and growth in the universe (Johnson 1-6).

While there are many disadvantages with having robotic teachers, there are a couple of positive aspects to it.  First, robots have the ability to work all hours of the day because they do not become burnt out, unlike humans.  Technology allows for students to receive instruction, exams, and additional learning mechanisms in the comfort of their own home.  This allows for a person to learn at their own pace and convenience.  However, an online class grants a higher opportunity for slacking and no time-management because it is solely a student’s responsibility to stay on top of completing their work for each week.  This can easily lead to student failure, to the point where an individual is too far behind to fix the issue.  Also, robots have the patience to repeat information in their lessons multiple times.  While human teachers may become frustrated by the lack of progress of their students when attempting to explain a complicated lecture, robots do not allow any negative emotions to cloud their judgement because they do not have feelings (Ivanov 4-10).  Having said that, machines with unwavering composure when teaching can have its downfalls.  Sometimes, students need teachers with real emotions in order to learn a concept.  The limited patience of human teachers encourages students to work hard towards learning something in order to satisfy their instructor.  A calm robot will allow students to be unambitious and take advantage of such a calm situation.

In conclusion, while robots have not yet made significant strides in education, the future will always be uncertain.  Someday, there is a possibility that teachers will have to witness students sobbing, begging them to oppose the powerful machines taking over their jobs.  Sooner rather than later, robots may be teaching all students across the world, lowering the quality of an educational experience one day at a time.  Hopefully, society will fight the robotic revolution and protect our vulnerable, human teachers from being discarded.

Work Cited:

Frey, Carl Benedikt, and Michael Osborne. “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?” 17 Sept. 2013. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Ivanov, Stanislav Hristov. “Will Robots Substitute Teachers?.” Browser Download This Paper (2016). Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Johnson, Eric. “Robots Won’t Replace Teachers Because They Can’t Inspire Us.” Recode, Vox Media, Inc. , 22 June 2016, http://www.recode.net/2016/6/22/11985726/robot-teachers-artificial-intelligence-coursera-daphne-koller. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Mubin, Omar, and Muneeb Imtiaz Ahmad. “Why Teachers Shouldn’t Fear Robots Taking Over Their Jobs.”Newsweek, Newsweek LLC , 20 Nov. 2016, http://www.newsweek.com/robots-teachers-classroom-students-wall-e-education-521442. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Purewal, Harpreet. “Can Technology Replace Teachers? You Asked Google – Here’s the Answer.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 Dec. 2016,http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/07/can-technology-replace-teachers-google. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

Vincent, Jane, et al. Social Robots from a Human Perspective. Springer International Publishing, 2015.

Weale, Sally. “Almost a Third of Teachers Quit State Sector Within Five Years of Qualifying.”The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 Oct. 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/oct/24/almost-third-of-teachers-quit-within-five-years-of-qualifying-figures. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.