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If education rather than credentialing was the overwhelming driver, a priority should be providing education to people without credentialing built-in, in a form
by tikhonj 8y ago
If education rather than credentialing was the overwhelming driver, a priority should be providing education to people without credentialing built-in, in a form factor that's a lot more flexible than a classic four-year degree. Ideally, it should be easy for people to educate themselves on their own pace, even as they are doing other things at the same time (like working). I somehow expect a system focused just on education like this would not have the ballooning costs we see now.
The incessant obsession with multi-year degree-granting programs specifically is a lot more about the degree than the education.
- vertex-four 8y agoI mean, in the U.K., if you’re interested in learning at your own pace, every university has at least some form of part-time course, local FE colleges do part time courses regularly, and there’s the Open University if you want to work towards a degree part-time. This is an American problem, not one to do with the concept of being able to prove you’ve completed an education.
- foldr 8y agoThis is missing the point. There are plenty of flexible educational opportunities in the US too (e.g. community colleges). Both the UK and the US (and I say this as someone who's taught at universities in both countries) face the problem that the majority of people going to college now are going just because they need a degree to get a job, not because they have any interest in learning anything. Education is a public good. Forcing people through diploma mills isn't.
- mrguyorama 8y agoPart time education in america is still expensive
- foldr 8y agoIt's not free in the UK. The open university certainly isn't cheap.
- vertex-four 8y agoYou get the OU funded the same way you get regular university funded, in Scotland at least.
- foldr 8y agoWell, yes, you can fund it by borrowing the money, but only if you don't already have a degree.
- extra88 8y agoCompared to what? Taking one three-credit course at Bunker Hill Community College is $558, taking four three-credit courses is $2,232 ($3,925 with health insurance) [0]. At City College of San Francisco (one I picked for to have a west coast option) is $138 for one typical course and $552 for four (that's just tuition but other fees are extremely low). If you're taking courses at a private college part-time, sure their tuition is a lot higher; taking just one course like Fundamentals of Instructional Technology from RIT Online is $3,243 [2]. Four-year public universities will probably cost somewhere in-between but it varies a lot by state. [0] https://www.bhcc.edu/tuition/tuitionfees-fall2018/ https://www.bhcc.edu/tuition/tuitionfees-fall2018/ [1] http://www.ccsf.edu/en/student-services/admissions-and-registration/registration/tuition-and-fees.html http://www.ccsf.edu/en/student-services/admissions-and-regis... [2] http://www.rit.edu/ritonline/course/2181-1-HCIN-660-01 http://www.rit.edu/ritonline/course/2181-1-HCIN-660-01
- mrguyorama 8y ago> taking four three-credit courses is $2,232 For reference, that's how much my mother was paid to be an adjunct professor at a local community college to teach 10-20 students a 3 credit course for a semester. Something seems wrong with the pricing
- extra88 8y agoYes, adjunct faculty pay is often low for what they’re expected to do at almost all schools. A lot of tuition paid is not for the instuctor but for infrastructure and administrative costs inherent to running a school. Some of the money paid for your mother’s course probably went toward paying non-adjunct faculty; it’s not like schools charge different rates based on the instructor or what they’re paid.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]