3 ms·

Is This the End of College as We Know It?

3 points by prostoalex 6y ago

aurizon 6y ago
Back in the day, we had direct collegial transfer of philosophy etc - in ancient Greece. We progressed, writing and scrolls, printing cheaply done. By the 1020's the current college system emerged. Over the next 100 years it evolved to maximize their influence and revenues. Over the last 20 years a huge amount of granularity emerged. It first showed in mechanical and electronic schools, in person and by mail - giving very granular niched skillsets in mechanics, electronics etc. The internet created a fully granular playing field. You could get skill sets on all manner of things. All manner of network, video, etc etc skills tought by online courseware, like the MIT open course plan - which, with the internet, youtubery. etccan expand to fill all of civilized skills. This includes law, medicine, engineering - everything, except hands on lab experiments. These can be partially done via youtubery - google "rotating machines 101" on youtube. Spread that to include the Michelson Morley https://www.google.com/search?q=Michelson+Morley&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA924CA924&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwisp-Kv-IntAhWBQs0KHaxeCS8Q_AUoAnoECBMQBA&biw=1920&bih=1000 https://www.google.com/search?q=Michelson+Morley&rlz=1C1CHBF... I did this in year one engineering physics in 1958 at UofT. It was called a lab, and took 3 hours and we wrote a report and had problem sets. Now, all the colleges have is the final document = Diploma. They deservedly guard this gate very well, as they can not lose this control method. So online degree courses will emerge, with diplomas as soon as they amalgamate them into the full panoply of associated courses over the next few years and provide satisfactory proof of the certified competence of the student. There is the rub. How can the old ivory towers of classical Academe come to grips with this? Niche specialties, like Microsoft server stuff, Oracle server stuff, have emerged to provide very granular, and documented skill sets. These people then go and get jobs in those niches. The next 20 years will see the collapse of classical Academe and a new Academe will emerge based on it's bones.

3 points by prostoalex 6y ago

Back in the day, we had direct collegial transfer of philosophy etc - in ancient Greece. We progressed, writing and scrolls, printing cheaply done. By the 1020's the current college system emerged. Over the next 100 years it evolved to maximize their influence and revenues. Over the last 20 years a huge amount of granularity emerged. It first showed in mechanical and electronic schools, in person and by mail - giving very granular niched skillsets in mechanics, electronics etc. The internet created a fully granular playing field. You could get skill sets on all manner of things. All manner of network, video, etc etc skills tought by online courseware, like the MIT open course plan - which, with the internet, youtubery. etccan expand to fill all of civilized skills. This includes law, medicine, engineering - everything, except hands on lab experiments. These can be partially done via youtubery - google "rotating machines 101" on youtube. Spread that to include the Michelson Morley https://www.google.com/search?q=Michelson+Morley&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA924CA924&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwisp-Kv-IntAhWBQs0KHaxeCS8Q_AUoAnoECBMQBA&biw=1920&bih=1000 https://www.google.com/search?q=Michelson+Morley&rlz=1C1CHBF... I did this in year one engineering physics in 1958 at UofT. It was called a lab, and took 3 hours and we wrote a report and had problem sets. Now, all the colleges have is the final document = Diploma. They deservedly guard this gate very well, as they can not lose this control method. So online degree courses will emerge, with diplomas as soon as they amalgamate them into the full panoply of associated courses over the next few years and provide satisfactory proof of the certified competence of the student. There is the rub. How can the old ivory towers of classical Academe come to grips with this? Niche specialties, like Microsoft server stuff, Oracle server stuff, have emerged to provide very granular, and documented skill sets. These people then go and get jobs in those niches. The next 20 years will see the collapse of classical Academe and a new Academe will emerge based on it's bones.