Teaching- A Robot Can't Do My Job

I highly doubt we'll ever see Rosie teaching English.

As the world continues to become more automated, there’s a mutter across the educational world that continues to cause concern for teachers everywhere: will there be a time where I am replaced? Not in the sense that a physical robot will wonder about the room taking up papers and scolding unruly students. No, instead, will there be a time where hundreds of students are in one room conducting all of their work through digital means?

Perhaps, but I would like to remind everyone that a robot can’t do my job.

It’s not possible. In order to teach, not only do you have to be human, but you have to be a special human. Teaching has evolved from delivering content to role-model, friend, guardian and counselor. We are everything at once- a collective bundle of educational knowledge and emotional support. Our duties go beyond thesis statements, two-step equations, and the rock cycle. We are movers who pick up emotional baggage throughout the day, take it home, sleep on it, and then bring back solutions. A robot cannot do our job.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Class sizes continue to grow and budget cuts threaten the security of our jobs. I’ve taught at two schools where I’ve been given a pink slip due to budget concerns. With teacher numbers dwindling and more and more students crowding our classrooms, we’re asked to take on the impossible task of doing our job properly.

And the supposed solution for this is to put a ridiculous amount of students in one room and automate the process? Nope. Teaching can’t be automated. There’s not a formula in the world that can account for the amount of variables in a teacher’s day.

So again I say, a robot can’t do my job.