[ExI] College 2.0

Tue Jan 1 23:30:30 UTC 2013

Im a believer in the free education ideal. I can't believe how a low pay or no pay school teacher in Africa can teach a group of 50 kids to a reasonable level. While some of our multi-million £/$ establishment can't get intelligent kids to a GED. To me that highlights the problem is not fiscal. 
Seeing any new idea that brings "ejumakation" to the masses gets a thumbs up from me, more so when it is cheaper than the other options.
Maybe half of the problem is that people don't know free or cheap education routes exist. How many sign up for EDx, MITx or have Khan Academy, Wolfram alpha bookmarked compared to the number who are too busy moaning about how student loans while spending their precious time watching some chap pretend to ride a horse while rapping?

 Lesson #1 in education should be the value of education, not the cost.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Lubkin <lubkin at unreasonable.com>
To: Extropy Chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:08
Subject: [ExI] College 2.0

There are changes afoot in college education. We've been in an obscene
cycle for decades. Families can't afford college, so there's political
pressure to increase government assistance. As this happens, the
schools raise their tuition to sop up the new money and fix the level of
pain back where it was. While adding a deferred pain in loans the
students can never pay back through the largely useless degrees they
obtained. Some students, facing an uncomfortable workplace, go back
for more degrees and more debt. All adding to political pressure to
forgive much of this debt, which in effect furthers the burden on taxpayers
who were out working. But probably not today's taxpayers, since we'll
just increase the federal debt even further.

Meanwhile, in other industries, costs plummet, in ripples from Moore's
Law. And more and more efforts to give you stuff for free, often in
exchange for ads you ignore or block, or data sold off about you.

With college tuition priced to compete with what you pay for your
recreational activities, there's great potential. I never stopped after
graduate school. I just kept on buying books and learning, and still do,
decades later. But I don't pay tuition, buy exorbitant textbooks, listen to
dull lectures, learn lockstep to the class, or jump through professors'
and school administrative hoops.

At the prices discussed in this article, my interest is perked. Maybe
I'll get another degree or forty. Now, I'm an outlier. But how many
people would take a class or two, finish their degree, or get a master's
if it cost no more than a cable tv package?

My guess is this is, at least, a billion-dollar market. That will ultimately
result in the dramatic reformation of the existing model of higher
education. The on-campus experience will survive, but largely priced
at a point a student could afford with a part-time job with no need of
grants or loans.

<http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-12-10/finance/35714989_1_college-tuition-nonprofit-colleges-public-colleges>

-- David.

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