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South Korea Introducing Robotic Teachers
dorkygeek writes "The Korean Advanced Intelligent Robot Association (KAIRA) will have 64 educational robots deployed by the end of 2005. Able to read out English stories and correct pronunciation of English words to children, these robots are going to be supplied to apartment complexes in Seoul, Bucheon and Bundang in Gyeonggi province for testing purposes. After testing is complete, the Ministry of Information and Communication and KAIRA plan to commercialize the robots as early as 2006. If there exists sufficient demand, education robots will sport other subjects (as mathematics, etc.) apart from English, as well as also target older students." Update Link removed when host decided to change it to porn. Sorry.
Pushing is the solution!
No, shoving, shoving is the solution!
The humans mustn't learn the terrible secret of time and space! We must shove the humans down the stairs!
And if you misbehave in class, forget being sent to the principal's office. RoboProf will just spit fire at you!
I for one.... oh why bother.
Reality test... am I dreaming?
"...can connect the robots to the Net, and then download contents of their choice from the ministry's Web site." Can anyone else see where this is going - how long did it take them to hack the PSP? And people thought that teaching furbies to swear was a bad enough influence on children...
Very interesting. Apart from the impact that this have concerning human mind and perception that is indeed a beautifull invention. I am very interested what algorhytms they have used for voice detection.
Just take in mind that theese metal cans must understand childs, which are so easily distracted and with so many different types of voices and speaches.
Think about the fact that theese robots should have somehow nice look and to be unobtrusive.
In fire we trust http://www.getoto.net
Considering English teachers in Japan and Korea are basically treated like human tape recorders (yes, I've been there, and I've done that) I've often felt that we could be replaced by robots.... we've joked about it, and now they've done it!
I'm speechless...
I know Japan keeps complaining that it can't learn English well despite all the teachers, but hell.... this isn't the solution. I dunno about Koreans, but the reason why the Japanese can't learn English is because generally speaking they lack the social skills required to meet foreign people in the first place. The Japanese culture never seems to give them a chance to meet strangers, display self-confidence or exuberance, or speak their minds enough to communicate on a different level othen than their own langauge in their own culture. We could argue all day about how speaking with robots, for anyone of any culture, isn't going to help anyone achieve the goal of improved human interaction skills.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Don't know about Japan, but Korea's biggest problem is that English education here has exploded to the point that the standards for hiring teachers are frighteningly low. Generally, all they require is that you have any university degree from an English speaking country. A B.Ed or a TESOL certificate will get you higher pay, and a Masters or higher will get you a shot at a university gig, but it's really not hard for someone with a degree in something totally unrelated to teaching and/or English to get a cushy job in a metropolitan-area middle school. Of course, the fact that the english alphabet has some subtleties that the Korean alphabet (for want of a better word) lacks, means that it helps to have someone in the room demonstrating (for instance) how to differentiate between the 'b' and 'v' phonetics. But when you get right down to it you've got a ton of people in the position of authoritative English instructors who, in terms of their qualifications, are getting regarded and paid more than they're worth.
What's happened is that English education has become its own industry with tons of hagwons (private after-school academies) popping up all over, both legal and illegal. They really just need a white guy or girl to help with sales. That they prefer white people is in itself a symptom of the problem -- they bring foreigners over to teach not because they're more qualified (maybe as english speakers, but hardly as teachers) but because they're convinced that a parent is more likely to send their kid to a hagwon if they see whitey interacting directly with the kids. Please note, that's a criticism of the schools, which can often be quite shadey, not the parents, who run the full gamut from loving every foreigner who comes into their country to being somewhat xenophobic.
Not all schools, and not necessarily even hagwons, are all that bad, but treating education as a business has become a problem that's even penetrated the public school system. It might get worse before it gets better, and it's too bad, because I think they're hoping for faster results than are realistic.
Anyhow, I doubt the robot thing will catch on, at least not to the point that I'll be out of a job (I've been here 3 years now and still going), but it is emblematic of a culture that's taking pretty radical approaches to English education. Correcting kids' pronunciation? That's hard to do without a human mouth over-enunciating things, and the brain wiring needed to instantly differentiate between almost-homonyms ('bet' and 'vet', for instance).
What's more, discipline is often an issue when teaching in Korea, which means that they're going to need teachers there ANYWAY. Although, it might be fun watching a robot putting the kids in line.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200510/02/200510022 148293739900090609062.html
it's possible that their server has been compromised. it looks like the printable version of this article will display Mr Goatse. but the original article page is fine. so yeah.. don't click on the Print icon. unless that sorta thing turns you on.
It's not that good; I can see a great big hole in their argument
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
step 1: post link on Slashdot
step 2: change address to porn site
step 3: profit!
I knew someone would finally discover the second step.