Free College Education!
College is not necessary for most people. The advent of a highly searchable internet and the tradition of trusted libraries means that free information is abound. Universities still have their places — for instance, research and accreditation for careers that impact safety — but by and large, the information we get from college can be found for free and online communities for people to brainstorm about ideas means that classroom style education is obsolete.
The only problem is getting people to actually look things up. Much of my education in college was gained through looking up the answers to others people’s question who considered me more of an expert on the subject. There is definitely nothing wrong with asking someone else for help, but keep in mind the world wide web is at your fingertips.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I have to disagree slightly. The internet does hold an amazing wealth of information, but there are a couple of things that it doesn’t provide.
The first major problem is that many people either can’t or won’t search. I know a lot of people, degree-holders included, who aren’t very technically savvy. They haven’t had the practice that you are I have had at gathering information on the internet . Even for those who can get around easily online, many don’t automatically think of the web as a source of info. When they don’t know something, they often just forget about finding out the answer. I spend a lot of time browsing and take part in several internet communities, and so that sort of thing seems normal to me, but very few people I know, even friends my age, are as active online. University coursework is something that gives people both a reason to either learn to search or refine those searching skills through practice, and after a while it makes people start to automatically turn to their computers when they need to know something. I think without it, many would be unmotivated to start what has become standard practice for you and me.
Another thing that college provides is a valuable social element that is often separate from classes. Many people in college are experiencing their first extended away from home. Many are incredibly open to meeting new people and sharing new ideas. Most are reasonably intelligent people. This environment is incredibly energizing creatively. I’m sure we both worked on many projects that had nothing to do with coursework, or that we extended beyond the scope of normal coursework, but were still valuable to us for learning both practical and social skills. These things can certainly be done in other settings, but I believe it’s much easier in a place where you can interact with other young adults but without all the pressures of the real world such as a university. I think that’s why many people solidify their ideas of themselves in their college years.
All that said, I agree that the classroom setting could be greatly improved. Anyway, that’s just my $0.02.
I’m going to go look up Killface on Wikipedia.
November 5th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
My point was that people need to figure out how to use the internet to learn.
I agree, universities may teach people how to search research and train them to use the internet. But of course, we don’t need a university to teach us how to do that. This can be taught in high school. If you go to college in order to become motivated to use internet, then it must be the most ineffecient motivation. I’ll teach someone the powers of the internet for free. That’ll save them $30,000. Figure out how to learn online and you won’t need university. The internet was designed for sharing academic material.
As for the social element, sure, colleges provide opportunies for many people to interact. However, some people don’t need that. Consider people coming back to school who already have families. The internet provides social communities that are getting better and better. Again, is $30,000 worth it? In finding new people to interact with, there are many alternatives to college. A few off the top of my head are social communities on the internet, asking your friends to introduce you to their other friends (and then asking those new friends the same thing), joining a organization, such as a church, etc…
May 19th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
[...] October, I wrote about getting a free college education if you know where to [...]