It takes just about ten seconds to verify that a sprinter is world-class, but it takes hundreds or thousands of hours to train that sprinter. Colleges are in th

It takes just about ten seconds to verify that a sprinter is world-class, but it takes hundreds or thousands of hours to train that sprinter. Colleges are in the "sprinter" training business. They throw in the verification for free. (Colleges charge for their courses; the exams come included.) Colleges are just delaying, not avoiding, their end by focusing on the verification. First, because they don't have the cost structure to compete effectively on verification. You don't need to spend $40,000 a year just to take a few tests. And, second, testing is not a stable long-term strategy for colleges because once they lose their status as the best place to learn, they will also lose their status as the best place to be tested. That is, I suspect that once Udacity becomes known as the best place to learn computer science, Udacity will begin offering certification tests that will have more prestige than colleges.