Bill Gates might be one of the world’s most renowned college dropouts, but he had quite a bold statement to make about the future of college education last month. At the Technonomy 2010 conference held in Lake Tahoe, Gates expressed his vision about how learning will evolve over the next few years:

Jovanna Tosello | Daily Trojan

“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university. College … needs to be less place-based.”

His argument is two-fold. According to Gates, universities have become far too expensive for most people to afford, so it’s difficult to achieve an upper-level education in the first place. Moreover, he believes that textbooks, especially in the Western Hemisphere, are too intimidating for students.

What Gates said makes sense. I’m sure most of us can understand and agree with his contentions about the overwhelming cost of college, as well as the information overload that we experience as students.

Moreover, although USC does not offer many online lectures, there is no doubt that online learning has recently garnered immense popularity throughout the country. According to the 2009 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, the number of students taking at least one online course rose 17 percent from 2007-2008.

Still, I can’t help but contend that Gates was wrong when he said online learning should take the lead in enlightening the next generation’s youth. In order to grow into the kind of people we want to be, we need a setting to explore our options — a space that fosters academic, social, intellectual and personal growth.

There might be a few ambitious, driven and exceptionally well-socialized self-learners for whom the Internet could be a viable educational alternative. But most students need to be nurtured. We need an environment to influence and to be influenced by.

For one, social interaction with groups of diverse individuals facilitates personal growth. Strong bonds can form during 3 a.m. study sessions at Leavey Library, a meal at Everybody’s Kitchen or even at a party on The Row — not to mention the valuable experiences students go through and the relationships they build via campus clubs and organizations. Unlike place-based learning in colleges and universities, online learning can’t provide any of those.

In addition, there is a common sense of community, passion and school spirit that runs through college students — and we Trojans know this better than anyone else. From swaddling Tommy Trojan in duct tape to prevent UCLA pranksters from defacing the statue, to gathering at the campus center in a sea of Cardinal and Gold to watch the football game together, the sense of energy and excitement we derive from our campus cannot be replicated at any other university — least of all one that exists only online.

Research has also shown that the greater a student’s involvement in college, the greater will be the amount of personal development. According to Alexander Astin’s Theory of Involvement, a developmental theory for higher education, “The effectiveness of any educational policy or practice is directly related to the capacity of that policy or practice to increase student involvement.”

If Astin’s contention is true, online education can be rendered close to ineffective given its inability to provide a large number of opportunities for student involvement.

It truly would be a shame if Gates was right and college campuses became obsolete in the next five years. I understand the benefits of online learning, but I strongly believe in the value of place-based colleges. Yes, we can create dynamic, edifying and enlightening experiences online, but we can’t replace the human element of college.

Amrita Parekh is junior majoring in communication and psychology.