Rhetorical Questions: What Google Couldn’t Provide for Education

Abstract

. We believe that education nowadays has been conducted differently both sides, for the subject and the object. The term “education” has been inherently related to moral obligation in studying and implicitly looking for answers to theoretical and practical problems in life. Meanwhile, current education has integrated to Internet of Things (IoT), and subsequently confirming the existence of Manuel Castells’ “network society”. This informational society thus undermines the epistemological mechanism in education. The word “googling”, refers to searching with Google, has been so popular in education nowadays because Google often gives us answers to theoretical and practical problems in life, answers that should have been provided by education. Hence it becomes a valid common sense to think that Google almost provide us with all information they had inside the online network. Whilst technology always associated with double-edged sword to humanity, the use of Google has made younger generation become fragile in foundational thinking, as Rhenald Kasali called them “Strawberry Generation”. But as Google gives society with abundant information, yet Google fails to deepen society knowledge and understanding things. Therefore, our hypothesis is what Google has failed to provide the society is rhetorical questions. With the internet, everyone could make their own fabricated “truth”, but ironically people sometimes fail to understand the knowledge itself. This paper propose the idea of “rhetorical question” that vital in knowledge, has failed to be provided by internet. In sum, “rhetorical question” would be a good instrument to counter “Google mechanism” to make education better.