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Universities will be 'irrelevant' by 2020, Y. professor says
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Fan of Innovative Pioneers | 12:20 a.m. April 21, 2009
David is also a founding Board member of Open High School of Utah, an innovative
new Charter school opening this Fall. The school is virtual and delivers
it's curriculum online using open source content. David donates his time to
this school to share his passion for innovation and 21st century methods of
delivering education. Thanks, David, for bringing quality options to students
and parents.
Prophet | 1:24 a.m. April 21, 2009
Nice opening statement, why don't you try calling him a prophet?
Comments continue below
Omar | 2:08 a.m. April 21, 2009
I wonder if my experiences with college were unique! I graduated with a B.S.
degree and took a job in private industry (bioscience). I discovered very little
of what I learned in college was useful in the real world. I left college armed
with a lot of outdated, irrelevant and useless facts. I found that knowing
science was not nearly as helpful to me as learning how to work with other
people, skills I had to learn on the job and on the run. I learned much more
from reading self help books than anything else! The best help to me was;
"the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven Covey. Looking
back now, most of the time and money I spent in college ended up having so
little value to me and taught me nothing about how to succeed in the real world.
All my hardwork and money I put into getting the "sheepskin" did for
me is get me the first interview! The rest I learned from being quick on my
feet. I wonder if others experienced this as well!
Been There | 2:19 a.m. April 21, 2009
Lectures (literally 'readings') haven't made sense since the
printing press made books available to all students. The solution then is not
taking lectures and putting them on Ipods. I taught a 'distance
learning' course at a Utah university once, and it wasn't what
education is about. If what we do in the classroom can be digitised and put
online, it should be, but that's not teaching; it's just one more
evolutionary step in the presentation of content. Universities will survive IF
the educational experience they offer can't be reproduced elsewhere or by
other means. That's my goal in the courses I teach now.
Craig Williams | 2:37 a.m. April 21, 2009
David Wiley's description of open education is exactly what I see in the
homeschooling movement. Kids and adults who homeschool share everything they
have with others and educate much more openly.
I attended public schools as a kid, but I agree that they are becoming increasingly irrelevant to a society where information is so openly available.
Kids today don't need to go anywhere to learn. They could very well take online classes from multiple universities all over the world from their own homes. They just need a way to have their courses and work recognized and graduate them that is unbound from the idea that you have to graduate from a particular institution. Mr. Wiley - any sugestions how to do this?
I attended public schools as a kid, but I agree that they are becoming increasingly irrelevant to a society where information is so openly available.
Kids today don't need to go anywhere to learn. They could very well take online classes from multiple universities all over the world from their own homes. They just need a way to have their courses and work recognized and graduate them that is unbound from the idea that you have to graduate from a particular institution. Mr. Wiley - any sugestions how to do this?
ER in AF | 4:13 a.m. April 21, 2009
I live in Rwanda and my wife is getting her History degree online. We had a
devil of a time finding one that does History. Most online higher ed
organizations grant empirical based degrees such as business or the like. I
work with a bunch of Marines and they turned me on to 2 universities that have a
wide spectrum of classes and more importantly acrredited degrees. They are
American Military University and Grantham University. Due to the mobile nature
of the military the universities can be accessed anywhere and often are more
open/understanding of special needs. You don't have to be military.
That's just their focus. AMU is like a traditional univ and has specific
dates semesters start/end. Grantham allows whatever speed you want with maximum
limits but no minimums. If you are speedy you go as fast as you want. I
compared them to BYU and the U and they're comparable. $750 for 3 credit
class and $4,500 a year. AND!!! they have free books and shipping as long as
you finish the class. Don't be fooled, it is kicking her butt, the classes
are ligit and difficult. Good Luck!
Not so fast | 4:45 a.m. April 21, 2009
While higher education is as nearly as entrenched religion, students themselves
tend to be slow to demand innovation. Institutional higher education is the GM
of 2040.
Lifelong Student | 4:55 a.m. April 21, 2009
David Wiley's remarks are thought-provoking words of wisdom, but not
prophetic. The concepts he discusses have been around for several years, but
often dismissed as heresy. As a lifelong student, I admire Dr. Wiley for his
critical thinking and for challenging conventional wisdom. I am inspired by the
professor who says... we can do better.
Enter nameER in AF | 6:01 a.m. April 21, 2009
Oh yeah. And power to the people!!! Education that can be had in Roosevelt or
Rwanda is a great thing!!!!!! My daughter got 1910 on the SAT and should have
one year done before she goes back to the US and gets her degree in Utah. Think
of the savings of one year's rent, books andthe cost of all of the silly
activities that she will love after she gets there. Universities will always
exsist because I believe they are the playground for young adults to learn how
to be out of the house and still be in a controled environment. I look for a
mix of everything.
Me | 6:06 a.m. April 21, 2009
One of the concerns I have with going totally virtual is the lack of truly
learning. University of Phoenix mentioned and other online for-profit schools
are alluded to. Well UOP online classes are either 5 or 6 weeks long (depends if
it is undergrad or grad) with very few if any lectures. I really do not believe
the quality of education is there. Maybe for some, but still how do you really
learn math, statistics or programming in that time....you cant? An entire degree
based on weekly papers and very few tests, I wonder. UOP is by far the largest
single user of Government student loans in the US. They give pay raises to those
who sell (enroll) more student and those who retain more students. They and
other schools like this are in it for the money, they have shareholders. With
Dr. Wiley I don't see how education can be sustained if its all free. I
don't think we live in the era of Star Trek yet where there is no money.
Prestige | 6:21 a.m. April 21, 2009
How will these virtual classrooms and schools overcome teh prestige factor?
I've taken both online and in classroom courses, and by far there is more
respect for in-classroom programs than internet courses. There is a reason why
the University of Phoenix spends millions on ads promoting their online courses
- they are trying to overcome this factor.
Interesting | 6:41 a.m. April 21, 2009
I thought this was very interesting observation. choice is good but as with
everytthing else that is free $ you have to watch out for bad information. I can
start blogging on ecconomics, but it's not going to be worth anything but
what do you know?
Scott | 6:50 a.m. April 21, 2009
The learning experience in a real classroom with other real students and an
instructor, cannot be duplicated in any Virtual situation - i.e. by the student
sitting at home or on a park bench looking at his laptop and text-messaging.
This BYU professor is off his rocker. As a BYU graduate I am appalled at his opinion. I believe he is wrong.
This BYU professor is off his rocker. As a BYU graduate I am appalled at his opinion. I believe he is wrong.
The Marriage Factor | 6:59 a.m. April 21, 2009
This will ensure that BYU always exists, always. And to some, it is more
important than the education.
Educational Compromises | 7:13 a.m. April 21, 2009
I got a degree in the highly technical field of Electrical Engineering. Pretty
much EVERY TOPIC (including language arts) that I thought was irrelevant to my
job at one point, has come back to bite me in the butt.
As one commenter made the oft-repeated supposition that because everything they learned was of no use to him, I can only suppose he has a job that has no actual application or use to society. I find that every topic I SHOULD HAVE learned has eventually been something I wished I'd learned better.
I think all these virtual courses are a great supplement to education--I do not think they should supplant them, however.
One needs both human and self-directed learning, in order to succeed.
The simple human factor is important. I once sat in on an interview with a fellow who was very booksmart, and I asked him a question about what one does if the process he learned was broken. He was a PhD and couldn't answer the question--he was insistent if the process didn't work the way he'd been taught it couldn't be done. He wasn't hired.
As one commenter made the oft-repeated supposition that because everything they learned was of no use to him, I can only suppose he has a job that has no actual application or use to society. I find that every topic I SHOULD HAVE learned has eventually been something I wished I'd learned better.
I think all these virtual courses are a great supplement to education--I do not think they should supplant them, however.
One needs both human and self-directed learning, in order to succeed.
The simple human factor is important. I once sat in on an interview with a fellow who was very booksmart, and I asked him a question about what one does if the process he learned was broken. He was a PhD and couldn't answer the question--he was insistent if the process didn't work the way he'd been taught it couldn't be done. He wasn't hired.
Anonymous | 7:30 a.m. April 21, 2009
Innovation will occur, but universities will not become irrelevant. Nice try.
BYU will be irrelevant by 2020 | 7:44 a.m. April 21, 2009
Wait, it already is.
Life Long Learning | 8:11 a.m. April 21, 2009
The idea of distance learning is at the tipping point of mainstream acceptance.
The old idea of college being something you did in your early 20's and then
your formal education was done, is over. Life long learning needs to become our
societal goal and the established norm.
The real value of this virtual approach is keeping current in emerging knowledge in all sorts of disciplines and contexts, NOT JUST higher education.
Individually this A la carte approach will equip workers to compete, and encourage them to stay engaged with their ongoing education. At a societal level, a flexible, adroit workforce is exactly what we need to be competitive in our rapidly accelerating world.
Open access democratizes knowledge for the masses, not just the privileged few. This is exciting stuff!
The real value of this virtual approach is keeping current in emerging knowledge in all sorts of disciplines and contexts, NOT JUST higher education.
Individually this A la carte approach will equip workers to compete, and encourage them to stay engaged with their ongoing education. At a societal level, a flexible, adroit workforce is exactly what we need to be competitive in our rapidly accelerating world.
Open access democratizes knowledge for the masses, not just the privileged few. This is exciting stuff!
Anon | 8:18 a.m. April 21, 2009
We learn from the teacher, the teacher learns from us and all students benifit
from discussions and disagreements. Often when a person does not understand a
topic it comes from an angle that the other students did not think of. Ergo,
they didn't know they didn't understand. I believe in a mix of online
lectures that are always open, and rich classroom experiences that are live.
Universities | 8:18 a.m. April 21, 2009
are not technical schools. A major part of the experience is the cross mingling
between disciplines and the students requirement to move between them. The
whole basis of a 'liberal' (in the traditional sense) education. The
other aspect that cannot be duplicated remotely is experimental research in the
hard sciences. I suppose that some of the other disciplines might be able to
perform some sort of dispersed research, but it isn't going to work when
you need a lab.
Someone will still need to be the 'authority' to set standards of performance (i.e. grades and scores) or the degrees granted will be like those of any diploma mill. Those experts will still need to make a living.
Changes are coming but the University is not doomed.
Someone will still need to be the 'authority' to set standards of performance (i.e. grades and scores) or the degrees granted will be like those of any diploma mill. Those experts will still need to make a living.
Changes are coming but the University is not doomed.
Meet Market | 8:20 a.m. April 21, 2009
At least BYU will remain the meat market it has always been. Personnaly I think
diplomas in general are quickly becoming obsolete.
Free textbooks and lectures | 8:22 a.m. April 21, 2009
I'm not so sure we can evolve to a point where everything is available for
free online. Just like anybody else with a marketable skill, people competent
to write such books or deliver such lectures need compensation. This is not
selfishness, it's necessity. We certainly don't expect doctors to
maintain free blogs where they virtually consult with patients for free. When
was the last time you heard of a marketing consultant offering free guidance, or
an accountant who'll do your taxes for free. Just a rule of thumb...if a
book or lecture is free online it tends to be either severely out of date, or
misinformed.
david jay | 8:22 a.m. April 21, 2009
For the person who stated that his education was virtually useless, You stated
what was usefull about your education. It got you the interview! The fact that
you were employed showes that you learned something. The purpose of a classic
education is to teach the student to learn. I am enrolled in an online Masters
program. I don't know how "valuable" this degree will be, but
the school is accredited by the North Central Association. I do know that the
curiculum is almost exactly what I would study on my own. This way I get credit
for it. I think this article is right on the money. Just reduce the costs soon
please.
Nostradamus | 8:25 a.m. April 21, 2009
Wiley's university is already irrelevant.
re: K | 8:28 a.m. April 21, 2009
I could take the easy cheap shot and pose your question like this: why is it
that everybody who decides to really research things out and think them through
becomes a liberal? Your complaint carries the connotation that anybody with a
lot of education is liberal, therefore remaining conservative requires a certain
level of ignorance. I mean, it's not as if there are hiring strictures
against conservatively-minded professors.
The truth is, however, that there actually is balance in the classrooms. You have bought into the media-machine's argument that college professors are all liberal. I am a PhD candidate in Ohio and looking around I can assure you that there are plenty of very intelligent, conservative professors and grad students. One or the other political leaning tend to congregate within certain fields, but students are exposed to all those fields through general education requirements. That's the advantage of a university over a trade school--you get exposed to various points of view and from there can decide on your own political leaning. Think about it, if it were really that unbalanced, wouldn't more college graduates be liberal?
The truth is, however, that there actually is balance in the classrooms. You have bought into the media-machine's argument that college professors are all liberal. I am a PhD candidate in Ohio and looking around I can assure you that there are plenty of very intelligent, conservative professors and grad students. One or the other political leaning tend to congregate within certain fields, but students are exposed to all those fields through general education requirements. That's the advantage of a university over a trade school--you get exposed to various points of view and from there can decide on your own political leaning. Think about it, if it were really that unbalanced, wouldn't more college graduates be liberal?
Mike Rose | 8:40 a.m. April 21, 2009
It takes at least ten years of rigorous and relevant practice to master and be
fully productive in a profession. Reading books, and listening to lectures are
cheap ways of learning facts but don't necessarily help people practice
using knowledge in ways that pay.
Besides improving people's productivity and work quality education has a much larger economic effect in regulating and dividing the supply of labor. Since many professions require a government mandated license which includes a 4 year college degree
Besides improving people's productivity and work quality education has a much larger economic effect in regulating and dividing the supply of labor. Since many professions require a government mandated license which includes a 4 year college degree
Sorry but.. | 8:47 a.m. April 21, 2009
this is an old argument that has little merit. Online degrees are becoming more
mainstream but traditional colleges and universities will still be around in 10
years.
Utah State Grad 2009 | 8:52 a.m. April 21, 2009
For those of you who think that internet classes are easy...think again. I am
an older college grad, (36) I have found in my experience that the face to face
classes are fairly easy while the ones on line are difficult to say the least.
Just because a professor sits in front of you to lecture does not mean that they
will always impart greater knowledge.
Utah State has gone high tech compared to other Universities in that they use their professors in Logan or Vernal and broadcast them to different satelite campuses statewide. For example, my campus is in Tooele, yet I get the same professors as students in Logan. I have had a rich educational experience, with some of my classes being online, (I enjoy the online challenge of school as well.)
For those of you who commented that you can't learn things in 6 weeks time, you can't learn things in 14 weeks time either... it is called cram & purge. You cram it in for the semester, your brain not able to hold info purges it, unless you will need it for another class. :)
Utah State has gone high tech compared to other Universities in that they use their professors in Logan or Vernal and broadcast them to different satelite campuses statewide. For example, my campus is in Tooele, yet I get the same professors as students in Logan. I have had a rich educational experience, with some of my classes being online, (I enjoy the online challenge of school as well.)
For those of you who commented that you can't learn things in 6 weeks time, you can't learn things in 14 weeks time either... it is called cram & purge. You cram it in for the semester, your brain not able to hold info purges it, unless you will need it for another class. :)
re: 7:44am comment | 9:12 a.m. April 21, 2009
YOU ARE IRRELEVANT!
total nonsense | 9:18 a.m. April 21, 2009
What a ridiculous blowhard. Harvard and Yale will never be irrelevant, but it
is true that second-rate BYU is already irrelevant.
Zoneseek | 9:20 a.m. April 21, 2009
While his comments are interesting-and he may have a point-I think the author is
leaving out the need for classroom instruction and discussion. Believe it or
not, there are professors out there that challenge the students in the classroom
setting to verbalize and organize information. Ideas and facts are
"bounced" off each other. I have learned both in the classroom and
online-the truth is sometimes we NEED that live involvement to really learn. The
author assumes that all professors dryly give info in monotone fashion such as
the teacher on Ferris Buhler.
EngProf | 9:30 a.m. April 21, 2009
This guy's whole model rests on the assumption that students come to
college because they are curious and dedicated to learning. Sorry. There are
students like that, but most are not. They come to college because they
don't want to get a job or their parents made them. Without the structure
of class-time and regular assignments, they would never open a book. The
function of college is to create a play-pen for learning. I do not see this
changing in the next ten years.
To: K 11:17 | 9:33 a.m. April 21, 2009
To answer your question; the reason most instructors are liberal is because they
are smarter and more pertinent to today's world. That is the purpose of an
education: to prepare us for tomorrow. As you know, the problem in living in the
past is that there is no future in it.
Innovation | 9:39 a.m. April 21, 2009
We are blessed with great schools in Utah. BYU and the U of U and consistently
ranked in top categories in many fields. BYU is usually in the top regarding
value (tuition vs quality).
We have innovative universities like Western Governors creating a new educational model that is competency based instead of credit based. In other words there are exams and assignments students must pass or complete to prove their knowledge in the topics relevant to their field of study, regardless of how they learn the material: books, ipods, OJT, etc.
Another innovative university is George Wythe U in Cedar City. It's a small liberal arts college still pursuing accreditation. It has some sound philosophies surrounding education and it's purpose. They teach that we must study history and the classics to learn how to think and behave. Learn the fundamentals of society and key concepts and principles that make nations or communities great. Once you learn how to think, then you start your chosen career training.
It's amazing, In the future everyone will have an iphone and there will be an app to learn anything. We are almost there already!
We have innovative universities like Western Governors creating a new educational model that is competency based instead of credit based. In other words there are exams and assignments students must pass or complete to prove their knowledge in the topics relevant to their field of study, regardless of how they learn the material: books, ipods, OJT, etc.
Another innovative university is George Wythe U in Cedar City. It's a small liberal arts college still pursuing accreditation. It has some sound philosophies surrounding education and it's purpose. They teach that we must study history and the classics to learn how to think and behave. Learn the fundamentals of society and key concepts and principles that make nations or communities great. Once you learn how to think, then you start your chosen career training.
It's amazing, In the future everyone will have an iphone and there will be an app to learn anything. We are almost there already!
Matthew | 9:44 a.m. April 21, 2009
A couple of points here:
1) Many (too many) college students are only in it for the diploma to open employment doors. These students aren't after an education, often don't get one, and are well served by University of Phoenix or whatever gets them a diploma.
2) A university is an environment that is intended to stimulate learning and the exchange of ideas. This process, under the guidance of good professors, results in receiving an education. It doesn't mean you learn everything, or anything, that you need in any given job. It means that you can more quickly and easily acquire the knowledge and skills you need for any job or endeavor.
3) Many universities today are guilty of letting those in point #1 corrupt point #2 and reduce its effectiveness.
4) The traditional education provided by a traditional university is as valuable and valid today as it was 50, 100, or 200 years ago. If done well and right it will produce an informed, insightful, productive, and enlightened individual that can do better at any given task than a non-university educated person of equivalent native ability.
Inovation is fine, but preserve the core university concept
1) Many (too many) college students are only in it for the diploma to open employment doors. These students aren't after an education, often don't get one, and are well served by University of Phoenix or whatever gets them a diploma.
2) A university is an environment that is intended to stimulate learning and the exchange of ideas. This process, under the guidance of good professors, results in receiving an education. It doesn't mean you learn everything, or anything, that you need in any given job. It means that you can more quickly and easily acquire the knowledge and skills you need for any job or endeavor.
3) Many universities today are guilty of letting those in point #1 corrupt point #2 and reduce its effectiveness.
4) The traditional education provided by a traditional university is as valuable and valid today as it was 50, 100, or 200 years ago. If done well and right it will produce an informed, insightful, productive, and enlightened individual that can do better at any given task than a non-university educated person of equivalent native ability.
Inovation is fine, but preserve the core university concept
Minhaaj | 9:45 a.m. April 21, 2009
David Wiley and Leigh Blackall are probably the only one who seems to have a
vision about education which is really solid and pragmatic. Education is a right
not a privilege and i am happy to be collaborating with them to orchestrate a
world with free education.
Anonymous | 9:55 a.m. April 21, 2009
Interesting ideas, all of them, and I agree education needs some innovation --
but what about the experience and mentor factors? One thing about personally
running into a professor in class two or three times a week is that, hopefully,
this is a person who can teach you just as much by example and personal tips as
they can out of the latest edition in their textbook. Good teachers motivate and
inspire and teach by experience and allow for experimentation, and it's
easier to do all that in person ...
I'm With Scott | 9:59 a.m. April 21, 2009
Universities aren't just about courses, they're also about people.
Much of what a person learns in the social setting of a university cannot be
duplicated on-line.
me | 10:01 a.m. April 21, 2009
You know we have had sunrise semester by the University of Chicago when TV was
predicted to radically change things. And the British Open University (and other
international OUs) were also predicted to do the same. The irrelevance of
universities has been predicted for a long time. In 1899 Dewey noted that the
invention of the printing press changed knowledge from a solid to a liquid.
Electronics has vaporized it.
David is seeing through a glass darkly. The future is actually brighter than he predicts. but for sure it will be different. Perhaps rather than predicting the future from the perspective of the wired world, he might be more accurate if he were to predict it from the perspective of society and organizations -- wait, wait, he will predict that those are going to change also because of wired world. Did Ender's Game do that already?
David is seeing through a glass darkly. The future is actually brighter than he predicts. but for sure it will be different. Perhaps rather than predicting the future from the perspective of the wired world, he might be more accurate if he were to predict it from the perspective of society and organizations -- wait, wait, he will predict that those are going to change also because of wired world. Did Ender's Game do that already?
Mike | 10:02 a.m. April 21, 2009
I agree with Me | 6:06 a.m. The quality is just not there. The virtual
experience does not compare with being in front of an expert. However I have
also noticed that this is true of classes taught by grad students versus tenure
track faculty, so if you're going to spend your entire undergraduate career
in front of a grad student, maybe there is no difference.
Student | 10:04 a.m. April 21, 2009
It is the student that matters most in the equation, not the university. A good
student can learn in a bad environment. In contrast, a bad student will
struggle in a good environment. I have had courses at many different colleges,
including the University of Phoenix (eight week courses, four hours each night,
two nights a week). I have seen negligible difference between the independent
study, online, distance learning, and traditional classrooms. How the
information is dispensed is not nearly as important as how the information is
received. I have learned equally at all of the institutions I have attended,
traditional university setting or not. The difference is me.
Wiley's Fomer Colleague | 10:16 a.m. April 21, 2009
Wiley is an ignoramus. He assumes that "knowledge" and
"education" are things commodities that can be stored on a hard
drive, downloaded onto an iPod, and transferred into the passive brain of a
student. That is equivalent to thinking that health can be packaged, stored,
downloaded, and ingested in a pill form. Wrong. Education, like physical health,
is an dynamic, active, living, changing experience in relation with other
people, at least one of whom has demonstrated him/her-self as having achieved a
higher level of education (intellectual health). It cannot be packaged and
ingested no matter how amazing technology becomes! Education and knowledge are
organic, social, and experiential. Wiley doesnt get it, which is why he reveals
himself to have a substandard education and a lack of knowledge. He should be
dismissed as nothing more than a peer wacko with Steven E Jones, formerly of
BYU.
Similar Parallel | 10:18 a.m. April 21, 2009
Sounds like universities have the same problem that newspapers do, they
don't like the truth, are left-leaning, and are institutions where
socialist collude.
@ To: K 11:17 | 9:33 a.m | 10:20 a.m. April 21, 2009
The failure to learn from the past is exactly why our country is having the
problems it is having right now, and why we will have greater problems in the
future. You fail to learn from the past mistakes, you fail to learn from
successes in the past, you fail. Your liberal friends think that they know
better than everyone else in the past or the present and they are doomed to
failure. Simple as that.
To: To K | 10:23 a.m. April 21, 2009
The problem with the past is we don't learn from it.
Tomorrow's youth with become resistant to those in authority and establishment and you will see more conservative students rebelling at liberal education and leadership. Just like the 60's only in reverse. That is why all students won't prescribe to one idealogy they are exposed to.
Actually I said those allowed and given the opportunity to instruct students are disproportionally liberal.
Tomorrow's youth with become resistant to those in authority and establishment and you will see more conservative students rebelling at liberal education and leadership. Just like the 60's only in reverse. That is why all students won't prescribe to one idealogy they are exposed to.
Actually I said those allowed and given the opportunity to instruct students are disproportionally liberal.
tko211 | 10:23 a.m. April 21, 2009
Wiley makes some interesting and challenging points. People can go ahead and
ignore the fact that change happens. People can ignore the fact that changes
these days are more rapid and make more impact to older institutions. As a quick
example: Remember all the brick & mortar music stores of the past? My
point- Wiley is more correct than one might think!
Cosmo | 10:35 a.m. April 21, 2009
Many professors, as well as teachers K-12, will buck these ideas, insomuch as
they will lose their power to indoctrinate, and not be competitive. Just as the
afformentioned K-12 teachers are screaming about home schooling. As much as we
need to eliminate 85% of government, we also need to re-think why we maintain
and old dead dinosaur, we call our education system.
LightandLiberty | 10:38 a.m. April 21, 2009
It takes a lot of work to get a diploma from an accredited college. Some
diplomas are worth more than others. However, one thing is certain. A diploma
without work is not worth anything, no matter how many credits are on it. The
problem isn't that there aren't enough educational opportunities; the
problem is that there aren't enough students prepared to take on the
opportunities available. A classroom with a teacher will never be replaced by
an online teacher. Think of it this way. What good is it for someone to be on
a college basketball team that isn't prepared to take on the expected skill
level and rigors associated with it? What good is it to get into college, go
online, etc., if you are not prepared to succeed in that class. I would love to
coach against a team that had been taught by a coach online how to play and
compete! Enough said!
Education leads to liberalism | 10:47 a.m. April 21, 2009
In response to the many posts about professors being liberal, many faculty have
had to live in foreign lands, study social and political problems, and the like
in their work. What one finds in exposure to so many points of view and
experiencing life from so many different cultures and perspectives is that it
opens your mind from the "small world" most folks gained from their
childhood sheltered family/church lives.
To live amongst the poor in Costa Rica or study the drug lords of Mexico or trace the history of GM's labor challenges forces academics to "live" in the shoes of other people, undertsand their motivations, etc., and you realize the world isn't as "black and white" as Fox News or the Bush Administration would have you believe.
I have some econ professors who are so dismissive of global warming, the benefits of recycling, or the improtance of renewable energy -- all asserting that these ideas are "bad" economics, I question their expertise on what they're teaching me. That is, their political biases seem to promote closed mindedness, which is antithetical to education.
To live amongst the poor in Costa Rica or study the drug lords of Mexico or trace the history of GM's labor challenges forces academics to "live" in the shoes of other people, undertsand their motivations, etc., and you realize the world isn't as "black and white" as Fox News or the Bush Administration would have you believe.
I have some econ professors who are so dismissive of global warming, the benefits of recycling, or the improtance of renewable energy -- all asserting that these ideas are "bad" economics, I question their expertise on what they're teaching me. That is, their political biases seem to promote closed mindedness, which is antithetical to education.
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I also am upset at the costs higher than inflation, often with tax money going to state schools and so little instructor classroom time. We are funding one sided research and their agenda. But why is the student funding all that? Let the alumnae fund that stuff. And let's get rid of tenure.