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Me: I have thought of this concept of a one-two year “Academy” that is post K-12 and which provides a rigorous post-K-12 education in the core, at a high level - key undergrad courses, in history, english, math, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, etc. The utility of this approach is that it reintroduces the core and rigor to college, without displacing the college majors. The college failure to have core curriculum is repaired. College BAs and BS degrees could/should be 3 years of effort after this. Some kids (like me) used AP to get ahead of the freshman classes, this would supplement and go beyond that.

Cornelis: "If you were Milton Friedman, we might be seeing this. I imagine some good schools could offer such a program. It could even begin in grades 11 and 12 for qualified students"

First, I dont quite get the Friedman reference. He was big on vouchers, and yes, it could be offered to 11th/12th grader as a 'super-college prep' course, like International Baccalaureate. All of these touch on a few related threads: 1) The dumbing down of K-12, where we teach less than we ought; 2) the hollowing out of the 'core' of western civ; 3) the fact that new technologies enable a different and better education, at lower cost; 4) the political and cultural system is out of whack, where parents and kids are encouraged to spend too much money and time to get less and less real learning.

The key to schooling as a limited resource that demands big bucks is credentialing. People get a Harvard degree because it imparts a credential. like a prestige thing, you have to pay mercedes prices to drive a mercedes car. But what if you could prove your brain had the knowledge and skills equivalent of a harvard grad? If you can create OpenTesting, an OpenSource version of credentialing, you can break the monopoly of schooling. Now if you can PROVE that they have learned, then you have levelled the playing field for learning.

There are ways to teach and get credentialled. One really effective ways to save money on college is to go the AP course route. Pass the AP test and you can place out of college courses and even get college credits.

What if that was extended to all College courses? There is a way. It's called CLEP.

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html

"The College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP) gives you the opportunity to receive college credit for what you already know by earning qualifying scores on any of 34 examinations. Earn credit for knowledge you've acquired through independent study, prior course work, on-the-job training, professional development, cultural pursuits, or internships."

OpenCLEP would be an open standard for College-level credentialing.

Any institution should accept a CLEP-certified passage of a course, and offer students ability to transfer credits in and out. That alone would drastically lower the cost of education, as many kids could use AP and CLEP at nearby community college to pass lower courses.

One really effective ways to save money on college is to go the AP course route.

Great comments, WOSG. The AP is basically a kind of certification that Murray is recommending ("Hundreds of certification tests already exist, for everything from building code inspectors to advanced medical specialties.")

What is needed is for other venues to accept them. (" The problem is a shortage of tests that are nationally accepted, like the CPA exam.")

The Friedman reference was only to suggest that your idea could use a bullhorn. AP can be very rigorous. Unsurprisingly, there are many schools that prefer not to recognize AP. For financial reasons, no doubt. I highly recommend that high schools students take AP, especially in the humanities, if the school they are attending accepts them. The humanities in the American Universities are hopelessly lost, most of all English departments. What advantages do CLEP exams have over AP?