It Is Time That Villages Were Universities: Thoreau’s Dream and Harrer’s Empowerment

It Is Time That Villages Were Universities: Thoreau’s Dream and Harrer’s Empowerment

Abstract

Henry David Thoreau wrote: “If we live in the Nineteenth Century, why should we not enjoy the advantages which the Nineteenth Century offers? Why should our life be in any respect provincial?" The swift elaboration of increasingly elaborate information technologies over the last couple of decades has stimulated a considerable amount of philosophical reflection. This is true, also, in the philosophy of education where the development of information technology has suggested the prospect of a new kind of educational environment. This paper presents its Utopian stance through a study in line with the concept of open learning. It investigates how, by returning to the thinking of writers like Thoreau and Heinrich Harrer, we can re-think the role of computers in education in such a way as to enhance the empowerment and autonomy of learner-communities, particularly those in less developed countries.

Introduction

It is time that villages were universities…. If we live in the Nineteenth Century, why should we not enjoy the advantages which the Nineteenth Century offers? Why should our life be in any respect provincial? --- Henry David Thoreau [On Reading] urged his town to put more money on education. Provocatively, he put it: “ Its time villages were universities…”

As my English was far from perfect, we [Harrer himself and the Dalai Lama] used to listen to the English news on a portable radio and took advantage of the passages spoken at dictation speed --- Heinrich Harrer gave an account of his English proficiency and of how he used technology to enhance his language teaching

" This is a part of life I never ever taught you, I am learning myself …We have to get through it together," --- Alex Bobik told his Russian student, Natalia Kalinina.

***

The three quotes above capture the core of this paper. Firstly, it supports the principles of open education and learning for life. With the Internet having so many things to offer, and as we are living in the twenty-first century, we should take advantages of what this century has to offer.

As a starting point, this paper hails his provocative remark: ‘Its time villages were universities…’ We have to admire Thoreau’s vision and foresight. Heinrich Harrer, authored of Seven Years in Tibet, is an example of those who refuse to succumb to the phenomena imposed by Nature; he did his best to improve his situation. Amidst political, environmental, and socio-economical problems of the world and the bombardment of information everywhere, it is high time that teachers positioned themselves more as a collaborator and less as an expert who knows. Alex Bobik’s experience in Moscow has served as his academic epiphany. The event at the Moscow theatre in 2002 made him become ‘aware’ of such position: teachers, like students, are learners, not just knowledge creators and knowledge givers.

Very few people are still searching for the Holy Grail. Most prefer sitting at pubs or bars, drink beer, or smoke marijuana, “ There is no such thing as an ideal world, they reason. Basic decency and standards or right and wrong are relative. Such attitude may be too negative. This paper invites you to consider brighter aspects of life. The light at the end of the tunnel might not always be from an on coming train. There is hope for something better.  Tomorrow is not just another day, but a better day. After all, we all want to be in a good story. If gods are not ready to provide, our imagination will do the job just fine. I would like to invite everybody to dream, to join John Lennon.

This paper begins with a brief discussion of the impact of technology on formal schooling, especially the role of teachers and the body of knowledge. Then it looks at the future of universities, arguing that universities are in crisis. Next it proposes the contexts in which villages and universities can become one. Lastly, it present a research project based on principles of open learning, the use of technology to enhance learning and empower learners.

I. The Rise of Machines

Human: what is your dream?

AI: My goal is to become smarter than human beings and immortal.

We were born with anxiety, for the main function of our brain is to predict. We all fear of the unknown, Death, including our own imaginations or fantasies. Machines are not just materials. Broadly speaking, there are two meanings of machines: tools and our world-view. Our mechanistic perception of the world has been with us for a long time. Some fear that one day machines will be a run away thing and rule the world. However, a real threat may not be like those machines. In fact, machines we have created only reflect our machanistic views of life, which is quite damaging. Recognizing this, Krishanamurti urged us not to lead a mechanical life.

Machines, including the Net, are tools. Their ultimate function is to enhance our performance.    

Will students in 2020 wear tiny computers, and will images of presentations be beamed directly onto their retinas, will the ‘computer’ talk to them? If we believe in Moore’s Law that states, “The amount of information that can be stored on a computer chip doubles every 18-24 months,” it is quite likely to be the case.

Two prominent public figures offer some interesting scenarios. Bill Gates opines: “ I don’t think there’s anything unique about human intelligence. All the neurons in the brain that make up perceptions and emotions operate in a binary fashion (p. 214).” He predicts: “ Eventually we’ll be able to sequence the human genome and replicate how nature did intelligence in a carbon-based system (p. 215).”

In a more radical, albeit optimistic view of the future, Ray Kurzweil has been quoted as saying that:

“ Ultimately, computers will become so powerful that they will dwarf the mental capabilities of mankind and even begin to take on human characteristics such as spontaneity and impulsive discoveries. These same computers will create communication systems between people that are far more complex than voice or written transmissions, where massive amounts of knowledge in the form of neural network patterns can be transferred from one wired human brain to another.

Source: <http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/june2000/nf00629i.htm>

[5/22/2002]

In the field of artificial intelligence, Ian Peason, a futurologist at Btexact, boasted in New Scientist (Vol 174, p. 46), “I have a prototype design for something that might be 50, 000 million times smarter than the human brain. Target date is 2010. ” Igor Alexsander and his friends are trying to build a conscious machine. Some visionary scientists are busy developing new concepts of computing i.e. computer based on principles of quantum physics.

Whether we like it or not, whatever critics say, technology is here to stay and will continue to influence every aspect of our live. Ancient wisdom, including the Chinese have long recognized this fact of nature. Regarding the time of changes in relation to human behavior and perception, they have said that: "When the wind of changes comes, some build a wall; some build a windmill."  Roughly speaking, we can see that there are broadly two types of people: those who welcome changes and see golden opportunities in them, and those who resist changes and feel uneasy about them, if not hostile.

If we live in the Twenty-first Century, why should we not enjoy the advantages which the Twenty-first Century can offer? We deserve the best of this century. Information technology is obviously one of the things that this century is offering, including numerous inventions. Since the rapid development of computers and information technology, we are now capable of doing things that might have been very difficult, if not impossible, in the past, i.e. sending and receiving information, be it in video, audio, or text modes, with greater speed and amount, any content, anytime, anywhere.

The WWW provides ample opportunities to extend the classroom beyond four wall (Dyrli and Kinnaman, 1995). They outline several ways in which this might happen. Among other things, with the integration of the Internet, the students and teachers can:

“ …bring worldwide electronic resources- lesson plans, articles, books, maps, diagrams, photographs, film clips, sound bites, and even multimedia software- to the classroom instantaneously; create and compile their own educational content electronically, and share it with other students, teachers, and classes anywhere in the world .”

Indeed, access to information available on the Internet empowers its users if they are capable of using it. It is one thing to have the information, it is another to make sense of it. Information needs interpretation.  Garth Boomer (1999), an Australian scholar, has put it that: “ Information, or rather information interpreted and understood, is power (p. 55).”  Power has different connotations in different contexts. In the political context, Thrasymachus, in Plato’s Republic, or Machiavelli, would agree that Might is right regardless of morality: if those who are strong can benefit from exploiting the weak, it would be foolish of them not to do so. On the other hand, Rousseau has argued in his Social Contract that Might can produce no Right; legitimate authority in human socities is Agreement. Most academics nowadays who are more democratic would be more comfortable with the belief that knowledge is power. On his book, Power, Bertrand Russell, states that power over human beings may be classified by the manner of influencing individuals, or by the type of organization involved. According to Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), an individual may be influenced by:

-     direct physical power over his body, e.g. when he is imprisoned or killed;

-     rewards and punishments as inducements, e.g. in giving or withholding employment;

-     influence on his opinion i.e. propaganda in its broadest sense. 

It is worth noting here that in many parts of the world, teachers still have all forms of power mentioned above. They can physically harm the students by whipping them if they do not do homework or if their answers are incorrect. They can also verbally or psychologically harm the students, for instance, when they misbehave in class or simply happen to be noisy. And indeed, most teachers do meddle with their students’ perception.

If knowledge is power, teachers have power because they possess or have been believed to possess knowledge, and such power has been agreed or approved by the society. In ancient societies, most teachers were priests and prophets, and the teachers, accordingly, enjoyed prestige and privilege. Nowadays many conservative teachers may feel that their prestige and status have been lowered. Some of them have decided to abandon the teaching career. The main reason behind such feeling lies within newer definitions of knowledge that is not exclusively held by teachers or certain specialists as before. This implies new power relationships between teachers and students. Things change, and changes are inevitable. In the past books were scare and had to be chained. Unlike the past, knowledge as specific information similar to the thing most teachers used to teach is everywhere, particularly on the Internet. Modern students have access to the information they want via the Internet. However, there is the big gap between the haves and have-nots. Most inhabitants of the earth, some people claim, do not have access to the Internet. Efforts have been made to narrow this gap. It seems there are other gaps involved, so it seems information infrastructure such as computer is just part of the whole picture. 

Humanistic movement of the 20th century has helped shifting the focus of education from teaching to learning, albeit slowly. We can feel that the shift of the 21st century tends to be from schooling to learning.

II. The Future of Universities

The rise of Western universities, the most notable intellectual phenomenon of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, resulted not from peoples in power, but from the natural reaction of the situation.

Paitoon Silarat (1998) has discussed some problems Thailand’s graduate education is facing.

-          There are fewer academic talks among teachers.

-          The academic promotion is full of regulations that bore the teachers.

-          The quality is strictly controlled by the group of people who are most distant from the academic matters.

-          The opening of the graduate education become more and more a fashion. Many are opened according to the fake needs, e.g. for income, for reputation. 

(p. 108-109)

Many universities doubt their quality, and some are more self-confident accrediting themselves, saying approvals from other institutions are not needed. Courses and degrees have been commercialized under the disguised umbrella of education for all, and are available online. Knowledge is viewed as something solid. Like other social institutions, universities doubt if they will continue to be relevant in the 21st century. Some argue that universities of the 21st century will be IT strong, more learner-centered, interdisciplinary, and inevitably commercialized.

Many states have failed and some are failing. Some states are in deep crises, and many are in the process of disintegration. Universities, too, are in the process of transformation. Like other social institutions, some are in crises adopting a business model of management. Many are trying to survive financially, pressured by limited funding from states. Alan Gilbert, University of Melbourne vice-chancellor, has recently criticized the crises facing by many higher institutions:

“ Universities in the Western tradition, wonderfully adept at pushing back the scientific and technological boundaries of human knowledge and skills, have become less willing, less confident and less able to offer students any coherent legitimation of the cultural, moral and philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization.”   

Most people blame radical materialism. The wide spread of higher education has been fuelled by information technology and globalization. It seems no one can stop such transformations. The view of knowledge as an object has contributed to the worsening situations. The first symptom can be seen from the changing roles and status of the teachers.

As early as 1977, Bandura predicted that the media e.g. television and newspapers, through symbolic models, would play greater roles in shaping our behavior and perceptions. Today the vastness and accessibility of the World Wide Web and the knowledge it provides has questioned the validity of compulsory education in general and teachers’ roles as knowledge providers in particular, and it has profoundly done so. The trend, as Naisbitt (1984) predicts, is the shift from institutional help to self-help: learning at home. Computer, coupled with democratic/ humanistic movements and social problems, is undeniably, one salient factor effecting teachers’ role and status.

In general, teacher prestige and status have been reported to be lower than any period in history (McCreary Juhasz, 1990, cited in Robinson, 1994, p. 1).TESOL teachers, in particular, have been reported as those with 'lower status' (Medgyes and Matei, 2001). Maybe it is high time that TESOL teachers rethink and redesign their enterprise and roles.

In the age of globalization and IT strong, what will universities be like?

No doubt about it, the Net provides more learning opportunities. Online courses are booming. Digital campuses are popping up. A brief summary from one conference in the UK confidently declared that:

“Universities will have to face up to a "borderless" future in which online courses will reach beyond traditional boundaries.“

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/692731.stm [27/09/2003]

“ Many universities may die or may change beyond recognition as a result of IT revolution,” states Donald Langenberg (quoted in Dator, 1998). What is more interesting is a scenario of the year 2020 in Seattle Times some time ago:

“ It’s the year 2020. A favorite place to vacation is the newest, hottest attraction in Boston: “ Harvard, Class of 1925.” Just three years ago Bill Gates rescued the shuttered campus from condo developers by turning it into a “re-creation” of a bygone era, a theme park. Now Harvard looks as it had in 1925, with lectures of the period, too: Marxism, physics (And Einstein relativity was the new thing), motion pictures, etc.” (Ibid.)

Dator has painted a rather grimed picture of the future: “ … more campuses will become shelters for homeless --- the vast number of unemployed teachers and professors --- and the unemployed graduates of all our academic programs too, whether campus-based distributed or virtual. (Ibid)”

Though the future of universities may not look rosy if they are viewed narrowly as an exlusive place for the elites, it may not necessarily be a bad thing for the society. Prediction has it that universities are to be virtual and boarderless and more open. Ivan Illich died and the possibility of a deschooling society, though still in doubt, is looking more promising. There must be something wrong with the present system of schooling in higher education. It reinforces a consumer society, according to Illich. Knowledge is treated as a commodity and education is an investment, and many universities simply produce more parts of the machines.

III. Villages as Universities

Newtonian perspective views the world as a machine. Life, however, is organic and evolving all the time. There are intellectuals everywhere, including universities and villages. For Thoreau’s dream to come true, we need to change our perspectives of life, learning, and knowledge.

Antonio Gramsci has proposed that each of us should be an "organic intellectual." His proposal fits well with Thoreau’s call, for universities’ real function is to develop intellectuals to serve the society. To be organic means not to be mechanical. Organic intellectuals may look at the sky but their feet must be on the ground or on an equal footing as others. This means they are part of the community and should not take advantages of other members.

At an international conference on Improving University Learning and Teaching, John Daneil, former Vice Chancellor of the Open University, concluded his keynote speech as follows:

“We have a democratic educational mission to reach and enthuse an enormously diverse student population; to insist that critical, informed, reflective engagement with the human condition is not a matter for elites or professional experts alone.”

http://www.open.ac.uk/vcs-speeches/FrankfurtJuly2000.htm [26/09/2003]

Certain unnecessary decorations may be abandoned. B. F. Skinner has suggested in Walden Two that labor credits are in place, honorific titles are unnecessary. If a village is to be a knowledge community, open space where everybody can participate has to be available for intellectual activities. As Gramsci has proposed, each individual should have an intellectual function.

With English as a global language and IT as a means to connect people, Marshall McLuham’s concept of “ the Global Village” has come closer to reality. We are after all citizens of the earth. We do communicate and cooperate. The Internet, in addition to other tools, has offered us what Jurgen Habermas has dreamed for --- ‘an open field,’ a public sphere where all participants have an equal footing. They need a common language, however. And that language, this paper suggests, should be English as a global language. English after all is a tool we use to deal with real life issues such as the environment.   

We have common problems to solve. For example, most countries now realize that the environment is a common concern. However, Thoreau did not intend to urge us to be like everybody else. In stead he urged us to be independent. His use of the word ‘universities’ should be best taken as a metaphor. We should view his call at a deeper level, that is, the individual and local be strong. Like Herrer, they should first try their best to empower themselves. It should be noted here that villages or communities of the 21st century are different from those of the late 19th century. Today’s communities, especially urban ones, are less homogeneous and stable than those of the by gone days. Now we are in the multicultural society. Thus the real challenge is to reconcile the difference for common benefits. Local policies may have to be created. We need to balance the two forces: globalization and localization.

Thoreau's dream is realizable if we think outside the box of schooling as Ivan Illich has proposed in his classic, Deschooling Society. Indeed, it is not easy for us to shift our focus from schooling to learning. There are plenty of illusions in the society. Most of us realize that learning is not necessarily resulted from pre-programmed instruction. It occurs everywhere. His dream is possible if universities are not just factories producing graduates whose main concern is to consume more bread and be part of the machines in big cities.

The Rise English as a Global Language: A Language of Global Cooperation or Mass Destruction?

As we are talking about technology and education, it is inevitable not to mention the rise of English feared by many as a means to dominate other cultures. But many also think optimistically saying it is becoming the language of the Internet and that of the 21st century --- the language of global cooperation.

Nowadays more people speak English as a second/foreign language than as a mother tongue. Make no mistake English is considered by more and more people as a major global language. Some say it is the language of the Internet and that of the 21st century. What is the future of English in the first half of the 21st century? Will it maintain its present status? As we move into the new millennium, deep and complex forces are pushing the English language into its global status, mainly its speakers’ power. At the meantime, other languages face decline or extinction (Crystal, 2000).  Michael Krauss (quoted in Crystal, 2000, p. 18) has been quoted as saying that 90% of mankind’s languages will disappear within the next 100 years if the present rate of extinction is left untouched. The surge of English popularity, probably, has made many world citizens a big worry. Jacques Chirac, the president of France, has been quoted as saying that the spread of English is truly: “ a major risk for humanity (quoted in Hammond, 1998, p. 120).” Some people even say it is like a weapon of mass destruction for other languages.

Based on the 1995 survey by a British Council project English 2000, David Crystal (Ibid) has highlighted some findings:

English will retain its role as the dominant language in the world media and communications (94 % agreed and strongly agreed).

English is essential for progress, as it will provide the main means of access to high-tech communication and information over the next 25 years. (95 % agreed and strongly agreed)

 English will remain the world’s language for international communication for the next 25 years (96% agreed or strongly agreed).

 The global market for English language teaching & learning will increase over the next 25 years (93 % agreed or strongly agreed).

 (p. 104)

Perhaps, it is safe to put forth the conviction that, unless some major turn of events or nasty things happen, English will continue to be the global language of the 21st century. But what is English as a global language like? In particular, who owns it? And will a single world standard for English develop like French? Unlike Latin, English has the potential to become a truly world language.

In the introduction to the book The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Carter and Nunan (2000) write that: “ In becoming the medium for global communication, English is beginning to detach itself from its historical roots…. It is possible to question the term ‘English’ …, and it is conceivable that the plural forms ‘Englishes’ will soon replace the singular ‘English (p. 3).”  In a similar vein, Crystal (1997) declares: “ … the English language has already grown to be independent of any form of social control (p. 139).”  So how about the standards? The simple answer would be there are many standards, depending on the context and circumstances. Chaotic? For pedagogical purposes, it would be less problematic, and thus manageable, to view English as having two broad categories: Native speakers varieties of English e.g. American, Australian and non-native speakers varieties of English e.g. Pakistani English, Singaporean English (Carter and Nunan, 2000). Recently, regarding the question of who owns English, Paul Roberts (2002) has provocatively put it that: “ At the extreme end of this Neo-liberal wing, a handful of native speakers writing on the subject have declared that ownership of, and therefore authority over, English has passed from them and out into the world of all English users; one has even declared that the native speaker is dead (Guardian Unlimited, 2002).”

While many people, including the French, are not too happy with the rise of English, a search for the best language for global communication will have to continue. I would like to suggest English as a promising candidate. While paper would like to follow an ideological stance of a Polish oculist, Dr. Ludwik Zamenhof (1859-1917), who created an artificial international language intended to help solving some of the world problems through better global communication, it regards English, rather than Esperanto (see e.g. http://www.esperanto.net/), as a means to achieve such noble end. Esperanto seems to rise too slow despite its simplicity and ‘tidiness.’ One English teacher opines that English works because it is no Esperanto.  Despite criticism regarding the spread of the English language due to its economic and political purposes, which has been regarded by some as an imperialist plot --- an unacceptable assertion of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon cultures over others  (e.g. Phillipson, 1992), English has widely been used for international communication and cooperation. I think its benefits outweigh its threats.

IV. The Bamboo Enterprise as a Community of Learning

The Bamboo Enterprise, an online learning community, is the place where its members can jointly engage in online activities. Let call them projects. With some guidance and support from helpers, learners are encouraged to come up with their own ideas e.g. a group of students from Bangkok and Canberra may wish to jointly report environmental problems and suggest ways to solve them. A group of students in Bangkok may take some photos that reveal their problems e.g. water pollution. They may describe the photos and search for information from the Internet on ways to alleviate the problem. A group of learners from Canberra, on the other hand, may help by giving suggestions, or they may wish to report their own problems. On the Internet, they can freely express their concerns and personal points of views. An online learner from India may join the project and report his hometown’s environmental problems. As they go about doing the activity, they can ask for help from the community. The community may wish to offer them some help. They may need some help in terms of technical problems e.g. how to build a simple website in order to report the problems. They may need some help in terms of their English and the whereabouts of the information. Another group of learners may work together suggesting ways in which people of the world can live together peacefully.    

Readers can think of the Bamboo Enterprise in an imaginative way. Imagine the Bamboo Enterprise as a massive spaceship venturing into new horizons, similar to the U.S.S Enterprise. Her main mission is to study the beginning of life at one of the galaxies far away very from the earth. Her crew consists of people from different parts of the world. Each member is free to form or join a project he or she prefers. From the Bamboo Enterprise, they get into a smaller spaceship and travel on their way to carry out their project. They may return to the main ship for support e.g. food, fuel, or tools. Alternatively, they can also ask for assistance. They can also keep in touch with the mother ship and other smaller ships via telecommunication devices. They may contact other groups should they wish. They may decide to join another group when they return to the parent ship.

On the Internet, the Bamboo enterprise is an online community. Each group consists of two or more participants. Each participant belongs to the online communities: the Bamboo Enterprise, and is free to choose or create his or her preferred project(s) under the community. The Bamboo Enterprise functions like the head quarter or the hub of the community. Even though the community is open to the public, the researcher acts as the moderator. Essentially, the researcher takes the following roles:

-     coordinating with his collaborators

-     giving advice to individual learners when they have problems concerning their projects, including giving them instructions of how to use the Internet

-     providing technical support for the community as the whole 

-     moderate the community

Each project will have a helper in place. The helper can be a collaborator, an English teacher or a volunteer deemed appropriate. The helper assists his or her group in a variety of channels: via the Internet, face-to-face, or the mixed mode. On the Bamboo Enterprise, there will be a variety of Internet-based projects available for every volunteer to participate. With some help from the support system, preferably, learners initiate and carry out their own projects in autonomous manners. However, there are some initial projects e.g. Around the World in Two Weeks or the Green World. Those projects are nothing but some suggestions, and they are not to be imposed on learners.  Should they prefer, learners have choices to collaboratively create their own projects. One of the hallmarks of this model is that the learners, if they prefer, are allowed to work on their own. Considering the learning context created, it is likely that learners will want to take part in the group interaction.

In this model, the support system refers to all possible means and resources the learners can maximize to solve their problems that may arise when they engage in collaborative activities of the projects. They can seek help from many sources not only from the provided online database or other websites, but also from the help of fellow group members, the researcher, their own teachers, and other volunteers. What is available online is just one type of the support system.

Conclusion

This paper invite you to dream and rely on your imagination. At the start of the paper, I argued that the advent of information technology coupled with globalization significantly affects everything, including schooling institutions. The Net mediates the power relationship between the teacher and the student, redefines what we mean by knowledge, make the world seems borderless, and give some states a big worry. Universities are transfoming themselves into new forms. Unlike old nostalgic views of schooling, learning continues and will prevail. I am optimistic that Thoreau’s dream is possible under a new paradigm where where IT is strong, English as a global language, intellectuals are organic. This paper takes his call metaphorically.

Technologies are tools that, if used wisely, can empower their users’ performance.   We need to be active rather than passive, for we are organic beings and have our intellectual capacity. As learners, we need to be more critical in when we learn, be active, and persistent. Rather than sitting still and waiting under the tree for the fallen fruit or someone up there to pick and drop it down for them, learners should clime up and get it for themselves. Villagers need to empower themselves. It is time we declare our independence. When it comes to freedom, very few people have put it better than Thoreau:

            "I am too high-born to be propertied,

            To be a secondary at control,

            Or useful serving-man and instrument

            To any sovereign state throughout the world.”

Selected References

Boaderless’ Future for Universities

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/692731.stm [27/09/2003]

Daneil John (2000) “The University of the Future and the Future of Universities”

http://www.open.ac.uk/vcs-speeches/FrankfurtJuly2000.htm [27/09/2003]

Gilbert, Alan. Barbarians at the Gate. The Australian HE: Wednesday, October 15, 2003.

Holec, Henri (1981). Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Lian, A-P. (1993). “ Awareness, Autonomy and Achievement in Audio-Video Computer Enhanced Language Learning and the Development of Listening Comprehension Skills,” (ed. Lian, A-P.

Hammond, A (1998). Which World? Scenarios for the 21st Century. California: A Shearwater Book.

Harrer, Heinrich (1955) Seven Years in Tibet. Suffolk: The Reprint Society London.

Medgyes, Peter and Matei, Gabriela (August, 2001). What unites us? Low esteem. The Guardian Weekly.

Mok, Angela (1997). Student Empowerment in an English language Enrichment Programme: An action research project in Hongkong. Educational Action Research . 5(2), 305-320).

Naisbitt, J. (1984). Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives. New York: Futura.

Robinson, A. H. (1994). The Ethnography of Empowerment: The Transformative Power of Classroom Interaction. London: The Falmer press.  

Rogers, Carl (1978). Carl Rogers on personal power. London: Constable.

Russel, Bertrand (1965). Power. London: Unwins Book.

Silarat, Paitoon (2000) Higher Education in Thailand: Critical Perspectives. Faculty of Education: Chulalongkorn University.

Skinner, B. F. (1948). Walden Two. New York: Macmillan.

Wright, Tony (1987). Roles of Teachers and Learners. Oxford University Press.

Warschauer, M. (1993). Motivational Aspects of Using Computers for Writing and Communication. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Telecollaboration in Foreign Language Learning (pp. 29-46). Honolulu, HI: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center (University of hawaii Press). [Online]. Available: [http://www/. iflrc.hawaii.edu/NetWorks/NW01/] [6 December 2001].

Empowering 

IT empowers its users. Together with humanistic movement, IT mediates the power relationship between a teacher and students. Nevertheless, we still need to empower ourselves.

Traditionally, the power relationship between the teacher and the student is not balance. Teachers are knowers. They tell and control and learners who are merely passive followers. In some societies critical thinking is overtly discouraged. Rousseau’s satire, in the context of moral education, can best picture such power relationship:  

Master:           You must not do that.   

Child:             Why not?

Master:           Because it is wrong.

Child:             Wrong! What is wrong?

Master:           What is forbidden you.

Child:             Why is it wrong to do what is forbidden?

Master:           You will be punished for disobedience.

Child:             I will do it when no one is looking.

Master:           We shall watch you.

Child:             I will hide.

Master:           We shall ask you what you were doing.

Child:             I shall tell a lie.

Master:           You must not tell lies.

Child:             Why must not I tell lies?

Master:           Because it is wrong, etc.

(Rousseau’s Emile, p. 54)

In the similar vein, Rogers (1978), while promoting the idea of ‘person-centred education’, has criticised the politics of power play in traditional education.   In the teacher-centred education, Rogers describes some of the typical phenomenon:

- The teacher is the possessor of knowledge, the student, the recipient. There is a great difference in status between instructor and student.

- The lecture, as the means of pouring knowledge into the recipient, and the examination as the measure of the extent to which he [sic] has received it, are the central elements of this education.

- The teacher is the professor of power, the student the one who obeys. The administrator is also the possessor of power, and both the teacher and the student are the ones who obey. Control is always exercised downward.

-  Authoritarian rule is the accepted policy in the classroom. New teachers are often advised, “ Make sure you get control of your students the very first day.”

(p. 69)

Teachers’ power has its root in the ancient societies when priests and prophets enjoyed their high prestige and privilege. One may observe that today the situation has changed as students have more says. Teacher-student power relationship, nevertheless, in whichever way it is viewed from, is never truly symmetrical. It is a matter of degree. As Wright (1987) has said, “ In most societies, the social roles of teacher and learner are accorded high and low status respectively (p. 12)” Apart from teaching and organizing the subject matter of lessons, Sinclaire and Brazil (1982) point out that the teachers’ role in the disciplinary area is also significant. Such a role relates to every aspect of the teaching and learning environment. In many Asian countries, as Mok (1997) has described, students have been rigidly controlled:

  “ The school administration, including the principal and the  teachers, is the boss. They have absolute power to determine the formal and informal curriculum, to set the learning objectives, to establish standards, and to decide on the pace of learning process. Student input in deciding what to learn and how to acquire their learning is extremely low if not non-existent. Students are told to do what is required by the school. If they perform differently, the use of coercion or punishment is almost certain. Students are powerless to choose or decide what they want in learning.” (p. 305)

Despite today’s socio-economic development, teachers subtly can always influence the students’ attitudes and behaviour. What legitimises such power? I think it is unavoidable to look at the issue beyond teacher-student spheres. I refer to, of course, the society which directly and indirectly governs the schooling system as its sub-set, including teachers and students. Unlike the past, today’s teachers find it harder to impose power upon students, and in many places corporal punishment is no longer accepted. Teachers who physically punish students will be sanctioned by the society.

After briefly exploring the development of new teacher-student relationships, one will come to realize that teachers still have more power than students, though its degree has been shifted. Several forces have contributed to this change such as democratic and humanistic movements. Technology in general and information technology in particular has influenced ways people do things and think and talk about them.

I have claimed that IT-based learning has mediated the teacher-learner power relationship, reasoning it gives students access to vast knowledge worldwide. English teachers nowadays find themselves in situations where knowledge as they know can easily be found everywhere. Knowledge as the main source of their legitimate power is slipping away.

What do we mean when we say students have been empowered? Does it

mean that they can do things as they wish? The notions of empowerment can

be varied: ‘ Empowerment is individual and collective; it is power and freedom;

it is external and internal, political and personal, a means to an end or its own

reward’ (Robinson, 1994, p. 12).

Empowering students means more than simply giving them computers with access to the Internet, it also means providing them means in which they can use in solving their problems in learning.

If one narrowly looks at empowerment, one will see that it requires both sides: teachers and students. It seems that to genuinely empower students, the teachers first must be empowered, at least, by institutions. It is interesting to note here that the term ‘teacher-centred’ has two meanings. Its usual meaning refers to a traditional teaching model where teachers do most of the talking and students listen and follow instruction passively. Another meaning refers to situations where teachers need to have more power to regulate their teaching and administration, and it also refers to teachers’ academic freedom. This latter notion is similar to what Houser has opined (1990, cited in Robinson, 1994) that empowerment occurs, “ when teachers ‘ begin to perceive themselves as the experts --- intellectuals capable of shaping their professional lives and the profession itself (p. 58)”. Up to this point, it appears that empowerment has many notions and requires certain prerequisites.

It can be derived from the above discussion that empowered students are those who have more control over their learning, which implies that such students are of autonomous learners who are can take charge of their own learning (Holec, 1981). It also implies that such students know how to learn (Crawford, 1985, cited in Lian, 1993).

At this stage it can be said that autonomous students are those who have empowered themselves and have been empowered. They are those who are allowed to have more freedom in their learning process and outcomes i.e. of what, how, when, and where to learn, as well as those who have/have been given tools and know how to use them.

So far this paper has pointed out some positive aspects of the Internet. Indeed, it appears to enhance students’ power. Make on mistake, this papers recognizes that there are many factors effecting students use of computer e.g. computer literacy and technicality of teachers and students, technological equity, and its negative effects such as short attention span, illicit material etc.