The Simpsons and the 21st Century Classroom

On last night's episode of the Simpsons, Bart and his friends pulled a typical Bart prank which ended up getting his teacher, Mrs. Crabapple, fired. The replacement teacher was a newly-minted M.Ed. named Zac with lots of new ideas for teaching. He had the kids texting, using Twitter, and using Facebook. He was sending them self-created videos to teach them their multiplication facts. The kids thought he was awesome, but they wanted old, traditional Mrs. Crabapple back.

So, were they trying to say that the use of technology isn't important to kids in the classroom? Were they saying that the 21st century classroom we keep reading about will be a failure? I don't think so.

I believe that they were saying something we've known all along about education. Teaching and learning is an interpersonal process. It involves the personal interaction of the teacher with each and every one of his or her students. It is this "personal touch" that Bart and his friends wanted. They were not plotting to get Mrs. Crabapple back so that they could go back to worksheets and rote memorization; they were plotting to get back their teacher who cared about them.

For education to truly be successful teaching this new "digital" generation, we need teachers who are a mixture of Mrs. Crabapple and Zac. Technology can be a powerful tool for motivating and challenging today's students. But without that caring teacher, the technology will not have the impact we want.

Teachers are as important as ever, maybe even more important in the digital classroom. It's only the role of the teacher that is changing. The teacher has to learn to be that "guide on the side" instead of the "sage on the stage". And that "guide" has to possess all of the caring, compassion, and creativity that teachers have always had.

So, is that what the creators of the Simpsons were really trying to express? Probably not, but that's what it said to me. I hope that's the message many viewers got. Teachers are awesome!

(Check out the episode on Hulu. It's called Bart Gets a Z. http://www.hulu.com/popular/episodes/today