This has implications for anyone considering future education. As the author says, "...pursuing a Ph.D. in the liberal arts is one of the riskiest career moves one could make today."
I have excerpted only the first paragraph. The entire article is lengthy, but well worth the read.
I always thought it would be cool to create small SPECIFC colleges
For example, I went to a school for a physics degree, but i could have EASILY seen this done with a small group in someones home for 4 years.
That would have been much more cost effective. I would LOVE to start a small conservative- minded college teaching a physics curriculum
lol
so freaking laughable.
Anyone who can find the local library could get a college education for free, and it’s been that was for 100 years or more.
Exactly the opposite will happen. College will be even more important than ever with advanced degrees like Masters and Doctorate becoming the new minimum just as a high school diploma was decades ago and a bachelors is now.
But they'll charge ten grand for the exams that qualify you for that degree...
Most HS graduates are immature dumbos.
Much as half way houses and probation serves as an intermediate time between Prison on regular life,
Colleges serve much the same purpose as being a half way house between HS adolescence and being an adult.
Hopefully this will help eliminate all the pseudo non-academic disiplines that dominate the liberal arts schools in most universities. Since these degrees have absolutely no social utility I doubt many will work to obtain them if they don’t provide a marketable skill and there is no 4 year edu-vacation to go with them.
The main reason for college for many is to meet a potential spouse from a similar or higher status. A good college culls the herd so to speak and dramatically increases the chance of your child meeting and marrying someone of a similar or higher status. And likely dramatically decreases their chance of hooking up with a loser who's going no where.
If this can happen for Universities, it can happen for High Schools, Middle schools and elementary school. When education becomes modular, down loadable, and open source, then the onus will be on testing or certification.
I see that as a good thing.
He claimed that the curriculum that had nurtured our Founding Fathers was no longer good enough.
He claimed that the old curriculum did not teach people how to think.
Well, it has all been downhill from there, because our Founders were able to think.
Can't say the same for most graduates using the "New Curriculum."
Our Founders would have easily identified Obama as a complete fraud.
All you have to do is go to places like khanacademy.org to get a glimpse of what is going on. Not to mention the MIT offering mentioned in the article.
And what about the lab courses? How is a chemistry or physics student to do his lab work? How is a professor to evaluate the work of 100,000 students?
The current compromise is making the course material available but charging for testing and the actual degree itself. As participation becomes more interactive (i.e. webcams and real-time interaction between instructor and student) the advantages of large classrooms diminish. They don't go away altogether - I'm taking a class at the moment (yes, even a superannuated old git like me) and the classroom environment does seem a little more immersive. YMMV - young students used to the technology might not agree. Gamers spend a lot of time in a virtual environment anyway, so it may not matter to them. I still like it.
Some major institutions - CalTech, MIT - are making some amazingly high-level classwork available. For courses where the curriculum doesn't change a lot - English literature - the buyin in course preparation is a one-time shot with little maintenance necessary. The class I'm taking now is from a retired (and returned) Classics professor whose coursework on Greek mythology was originally written to VCR and is still in use essentially unaltered except for the media. He was laughing about it the other day - what took a studio and endless rehearsal to record then is done now by a student sticking a cellphone up into the air.
Other stuff - technology courses, for example - where there is a great deal of churn in the course material are less remunerative for the institution, especially where class sizes are smaller as in senior and graduate-level classes. The U is still a corporation, and if it can't turn a buck my phony-baloney salary doesn't get paid. That's how it is in the ed biz.
I do see this helping impact student loan debt and yes, there will need to be fewer professors with slightly different skillsets. They have to go with the flow too. My guy, well, I'm going to help him log in again in another few minutes. Professors always will be professors.
TANSTAAFL
I’m not buying it. The fact is the information has always been available, universities don’t hand out information, they hand out proof of completion. I’ve always quiped that if I want to learn something I’ll read a book school is for degrees. As long as employers find degrees important, which currently trends upward, there will be a place for universities. Online classes might become more the norm, less campus life, but there will still be universities handing out proof.
University Education bump for later......
This watering down has been exacerbated by two things: 1) the rise of nouveau "colleges and universities," including a variety of "online" schools, and 2) seemingly unlimited government funding for higher education.
Say what you will about businesses, their quirks, and shortcomings, education establishes a pecking order, certainly in larger US companies. Your education lends tangible credibility, whether or not your particular job requires the degree or not. Degrees also give employers something tangible by which to compare potential new employees, and reasons to promote established employees.
You may rise through the ranks on your own merits and success, but a degree gets you in the door. You can argue that employers really want employees who are good workers....blah, blah. All employers want good workers, but it's very difficult to prove you're a good worker with online courses and certificates only.
This isn't just an employer issue. There is a value system in place today, where we in the US still value these credentials too. Would we fly in planes, drive in cars, or live in buildings designed by people with questionable backgrounds or specious qualifications? Would you seek medical advice or care from someone with an associate-level degree from an online school? What about legal advice from someone graduating from Dakota College at Bottineau, or Delgado Community College?
The value of some degrees is neglible, and as an employer, I'd be hard-pressed to show any extra consideration to a potential employee over another. But, until a new value system for employee credentials is created, the degree will still be of value for many employees and industries.
I'd be remiss if I didn't include that for those who may be in sales, those who plan to start their own business, or those pursuing legitimate trades such as plumbing, electrical, construction, welding and other such fields, a four-year degree would not add a significant value. There may also be exceptions in smaller businesses not laden with bureaucratic policies and procedures.
“...tens of thousands of professors will lose their jobs...”
Be still, my heart!
bfl