How We Learn 5a Charney-Flower

Charney's article is directed at psychologists, educators, scholars, "designers of hypertext", and "those who learn to read". I feel The Effect of Hypertext on Processes of Reading and Writing  contains a fascinating compilation of research that explores how the modern tool of hypertext can be designed to improve the way we learn through reading. After reading this article I found myself thinking about the sci-fi movie, The Matrix. In the film, human beings are able to learn through a machine in mere seconds. I think Chaney's article, not to the same extreme, evokes ideas about maximizing learning potential. What if we could tap this potential, turn novice into expert and student into scholar with the push of button? The appeal to modern ways of learning such as hypertext is not only effectiveness or that that they cater to the learner, but also the speed and ease with which they teach. As an aspiring teacher I am somewhat frightened by Charney's article because it makes me ask myself will there be a time in which teaching will be a dead occupation. While I don't see a computerized monopoly on learning in  my lifetime, it seems foolish to think that such a thing is not plausible. It is unnerving to see how the roles of teachers are shrinking as we as a society become more dependent on technology, like hypertext, that is designed around improving the ways we learn. I began to understand why some of my past teachers were so insistent when they pronounced to the class that they were not babysitters. The aim to put a computer in every classroom in America highlights how hypertext and similar technologies are rapidly becoming an integral part of learning process.