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The founder of Oculus says schools need his invention because 'classrooms are broken'

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Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Westfield

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey thinks that the company's virtual reality headset will eventually make its way into schools, allowing students to learn in new, immersive ways. 

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"Classrooms are broken. Kids don’t learn the best by reading books," Luckey said at the Dublin Web Summit, according to The Guardian.

"There’s clearly value in real-world experiences: going to do things. That’s why we have field trips. The problem is that the majority of people will never be able to do the majority of those experiences."

In the future, students could use the Oculus Rift or other VR technologies to "visit" historic locations or museums around the world. 

Google has already delved into these areas too, with its "expeditions pioneer program."  The pioneer program shows teachers how they can use cheap virtual reality headset Google Cardboard to bring their classrooms on virtual journeys to "places that school buses can't go" on Google Street View, like into coral reefs or through the streets of Barcelona. 

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Although Luckey concedes that visiting a city, like Paris, France via VR will never be the same as really traveling there, the technology could democratize that kind of experience. 

"Even if visiting Paris for real is something that’s better [than doing it with VR] it’s not something that eight, nine, 10 billion people in the world are going to be able to do," Luckey said, according to The Gaurdian. 

His comments align with those of Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, who recently said that the company envisions Oculus eventually building an experience that mimics a teleporter, allowing people to feel like they're anywhere they want at anytime. 

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