In the coming era of budget cuts to education, distance learning could become the norm.

        The temptation for those in charge of education budgets to trade teachers for technology could be so strong that they ignore the disadvantages of distance learning. School facilities are expensive to build and maintain, and teachers are expensive to employ. Online classes do not require buildings and each class can host hundreds of people simultaneously, resulting in greater savings, thus increasing the temptation of distance education for those concerned more about budgets than learning. But moving away from a traditional classroom in which a living, breathing human being teaches and interacts with students daily would be a disaster. Physically attending school has hidden benefits: getting up every morning, interacting with peers, and building relationships with teachers are essential skills to cultivate in young people. Moreover, schools should be more than simple institutions of traditional learning. They are now places that provide meals. They are places where students receive counseling and other support.

        Those policy-makers are often fascinated by the latest technology in education and its potential to “transform” education overnight. But online education does not allow a teacher to keep a struggling student after class and offer help. Educational videos may deliver academic content, but they are unable to make eye contact or assess a student’s level of engagement. Distance education will never match the personal teaching in a traditional classroom. In their first 18 years of life, American children spend only 9% of their time in school. Yet teachers are expected to prepare them to be responsible citizens, cultivate their social skills, encourage successful time management, and enhance their capacity to flourish in an increasingly harsh labor market. Given these expectations, schools should not become permanently “remote”.

        The power of the classroom is rooted in the humanity of the people gathered in the same place, at the same time. Personal teaching is about teachers showing students a higher path, and about young people going through the process together. Technology, no matter how advanced, should simply be a tool of a good teacher.

解析：A。根据题干中的technology和a good teacher可定位至原文最后一段最后一句。该句提到，无论技术多么先进，都只能作为一位优秀教师的工具。在最后一段的第一句，作者指出，课堂的力量植根于同一时间聚集在同一地点的人们的人性。由此可知，技术因为不具备人性而无法拥有真人课堂的力量，因而无法取代优秀的老师，故A项为正确答案。

错项排除：B项和C项在原文中无依据，故均排除。D项利用原文中的personal设置干扰，但这里只提到了personal teaching（真人教学），未提到个人需求，故排除D项。