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> I know nothing about biology, but without laws like this, there would be nothing stopping me from offering classes on biology. What if you did know something
by agwa 14y ago
> I know nothing about biology, but without laws like this, there would be nothing stopping me from offering classes on biology.
What if you did know something about biology, and furthermore you were a really good teacher, and you wanted to post YouTube videos to spread the knowledge for free (like Salman Khan). If the law said you had be registered as an educational institution, you'd first have to navigate the bureaucracy, probably pay some outrageous fees, and you'd probably end up being rejected because you're doing things in a new and innovative way which the law didn't account for. Would you go through all that and try to fight it just to give away some YouTube videos for free?
Probably not, and that would deprive the public of a new opportunity to learn. That wouldn't serve the public interest.
- jlarocco 14y agoYour completely missing the point. Minnesota isn't trying to stop Coursera's innovation. They just need to certify they're teaching legitimate stuff before they can claim to be an educational institution in Minnesota. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me. If I wanted to teach people, it seems reasonable to prove that I know the subject I'm teaching.
- SilasX 14y agoAnd you're missing the point that if anyone tries any online educational innovation, they can potentially be stopped by every locality in the world shaking them down for money on a dubious pretense, if we let Minnesota set a precedent.