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So in other words: “We don’t need formal schooling beyond middle school because everyone can learn job skills as a child, and then self-study graduate level ma

So in other words: “We don’t need formal schooling beyond middle school because everyone can learn job skills as a child, and then self-study graduate level material from books and youtube and do independent PhD-level research with no funding, structure, or support.” This argument strongly reminds me of the guy I met who claimed nobody needs a paid job because they can just scavenge free food from restaurant garbage bins.

mjburgess 5y ago
I used my case to question how central the university needs to be in any process of skill acquisition: high-end, or low-end. I wasn't answering the question; I was asking it. It is still clearly the case the university has a role. I just do not think we have caught up to how well employers can train their employees; how well even highly advanced skills can be acquired; how very very recent advancements (youtube, etc.) can provide a good-quality education; and so on. In an age where meaningful professional development can be made without the university, there is a serious question to be asked: how many will meaningfully benefit from the university system? (And: how many are meaningfully harmed?). The answer, in both cases, is surely: some.
- julian_t 5y ago
  This is a very valid and important point. I'm involved in tech training for the company I work for, and during lockdown we've provided a lot of material as videos and self-study documents. A lot of those have got very good, and we have to ask ourselves what value we add to the learning process. It's still something we're discussing, and it's definitely led us to alter how we think about training (and out of our safe areas!)
  - mjburgess 5y ago
    You add value by modelling thought process to the learners, as you solve problems which are relevant to them. Consider: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4 or anything of this kind. And ask: what is David doing as the narrator (of his own thought process) ?

mjburgess 5y ago

I used my case to question how central the university needs to be in any process of skill acquisition: high-end, or low-end. I wasn't answering the question; I was asking it. It is still clearly the case the university has a role. I just do not think we have caught up to how well employers can train their employees; how well even highly advanced skills can be acquired; how very very recent advancements (youtube, etc.) can provide a good-quality education; and so on. In an age where meaningful professional development can be made without the university, there is a serious question to be asked: how many will meaningfully benefit from the university system? (And: how many are meaningfully harmed?). The answer, in both cases, is surely: some.

julian_t 5y ago
This is a very valid and important point. I'm involved in tech training for the company I work for, and during lockdown we've provided a lot of material as videos and self-study documents. A lot of those have got very good, and we have to ask ourselves what value we add to the learning process. It's still something we're discussing, and it's definitely led us to alter how we think about training (and out of our safe areas!)
- mjburgess 5y ago
  You add value by modelling thought process to the learners, as you solve problems which are relevant to them. Consider: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4 or anything of this kind. And ask: what is David doing as the narrator (of his own thought process) ?