First, there was Socrates. Then, there is Byju Raveendran. Between these two figures fall interesting questions and disturbing answers on education, learning, technology, and ethics.
As news came this week of a jail sentence for Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of his messed-up education-technology startup, I was reminded of my meeting about 25 years ago with eminent professor Mohanbir Sawhney of the Kellogg School of Management, when e-learning was in its infancy.
The amiable professor remarked how education had not changed since the times of Socrates—both he and the ancient Greek philosopher had taught a class of only 60 students at a time.
The potential of scale and the power of the internet and its associated technologies as a distance killer had then held much promise to make advanced education highly affordable.
But what we know, decades later, is that teaching should not be just about turning learning into a consumer good and selling it aggressively as if it were a bar of chocolate.