Comments on: Will formal schooling become obsolete?

By: charles darwin

charles darwin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:21:52 +0000

yes, come to class
no, cannot come to class.

colleges sell Admit ticket to class.

Degree is paper with ink.

colleges will be gone by 2020 or 2030.

Digital colleges can reach 1-6 billion anytime, anywhere. on earth.

By: Brian Greenberg

Brian Greenberg — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:36:24 +0000

Phil – I don’t disagree. Although academic environments allow you to have experiences you can’t have in the workforce, at least not without risking serious consequences.

Do you know how many “companies” I was the “CEO” of back in college? How many times I ran the company into the ground in order to learn what doesn’t work? Hundreds of theoretical employees are very glad it was all an excercise…

By: Phil Bowermaster

Phil Bowermaster — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:31:04 +0000

Brian wrote:

When I’m hiring an entry-level person out of college, I don’t want a bookworm (or, in this case, a Google master). I want someone who can work well with others.

Sally previously wrote:

Learn as much as you can as fast as you can as cheaply as you can online. While doing so, get experience in the workplace.

It seems to me that the real-world work experience could take the place of group projects and the like. Plus the workplace is (arguably) as good a place to pick up critical social skills as the marching band or a fraternity.

These kinds of issues arise already in the case of non-traditional students — e.g., people who work full time to support their families and take classes at night. It seems their work experience ought to count for a lot.

By: Phil Bowermaster

Phil Bowermaster — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:36:02 +0000

One thing that will slow down a complete opening up of education is the requirement for certification. MIT opened up many of its classes for general public web consumption a few years back. Anybody in the world with a computer and an internet connection can now access an excellent education courtesy of one of the most prestigious universities in the world — for free. But none of these courses count for degree credit.

MIT understands that their monopoly is not on knowledge; it’s on MIT degrees. If you read the help wanted ads in, say, The Economist the ads often say they want candidates from “top schools.” Brand name recognition for a degree can be worth a lot.

By: Brian Greenberg

Brian Greenberg — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:00:22 +0000

I couldn’t disagree more. Maybe it depends on the college, but most of my education (Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania) involved group projects. You’re not just learning the content – you’re learning how to interact with colleagues, work in multi-disciplinary teams, get the most out of team members with different personalities and work ethics and the like.

There’s also the social aspect. I was a proud member of the University of Pennsylvania Band, where I met most of my closest friends, including my wife. Others join fraternities, sororities, academic clubs, social clubs, etc. That’s as big a part of a college education as the degree-related content.

When I’m hiring an entry-level person out of college, I don’t want a bookworm (or, in this case, a Google master). I want someone who can work well with others. Familiarity with online culture and tools are important (and becoming more so), but unless you’re working remotely from home 24/7, personal interaction is a skill worth learning.

By: Phil Bowermaster

Phil Bowermaster — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:30:54 +0000

I have removed some comments from this thread (including one of my own) as the content was going in too political a direction.

By: Harvey

Harvey — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:20:53 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgBE_4-rZ6Y

By: The Chad

The Chad — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:06:00 +0000

For the sheer educational value, I couldn’t agree more. Schools are not the most efficient way to learn. But the social factor is very much still important, both for developing into rational adults, but (I think) more importantly, to gain the connections. People don’t go to Harvard because they have a better education model, or that the text books have super-secret ‘better’ knowledge. They go to harvard to get the harvard degree, and hobknob with other elites.
As federal funding effectively destroys itself, universities will largely switch to the new model you and I welcome. It will be interesting to see how the colleges with the big names adapt, and where the new power players will come from.

By: Russ

Russ — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:59:24 +0000

Content vs. Medium, ma’am. Just as blogs have aided, rather than replaced journalism, online learning does the same. Formal college isn’t merely a bad lecture in a classroom.

//literally converting one of my courses to online format all this week.

By: Jeff H

Jeff H — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:32:14 +0000

Implicit in this argument is the fact that people doing the hiring also won’t care about degrees.

Attending a lecture in a physical building at a specific university has never been a perquisite for learning. Libraries have been around for a long time.

For this paradigm to truly shift perspective employers also need to stop placing so much emphasis on who went where. Until then, I’d say a number of schools are still safe.

That said, I agree with the overall idea above. Both yours and his.