My last blog documented the failure of our education system. This massive failure has undoubtedly deeply affected your kids and may very well have affected you, too. Today’s blog will concentrate on higher education. Primary and secondary education will be covered separately in a future blog.
So how do we insure a high-quality and useful post-secondary education for ourselves and our children given all the challenges? For openers, I believe that a full scale solution, a revolution really, is coming.
An education revolution is coming
Education is going to be taken over by the internet, and the quality it will deliver will be nothing short of stunning. The world’s best teachers, performing at their best. Blow-away superior audiovisual and instant research capabilities. A world where education can truly be tailored to the strengths, weaknesses, needs and interests of each individual student.
Textbooks? What an unnecessary expense. The audiovisual capability of the internet and it’s amazing research capabilities and its ability to tailor the education process on an individual basis puts them to shame, let alone the fact that information is now doubling every 18 months and thousands of textbooks are out of date even before they’re printed. Admittedly, E-books may prove useful in some instances, but even they pale by comparison to the power of the internet and its ability to match the teaching process to the needs of the individual.
Will there still be teachers? Yes, but far less than their current numbers and they’ll usually be performing more as coaches than teachers. The cost of higher education will reflect these changes. How about a full four year college education for say $5,000 or so? Pretty amazing, no?
This new system is already beginning to emerge.
Listed below are two examples of the resources already available; resources that are getting better literally by the month. What you’ll see is just a small portion of the leading edge so hang on, because a number of Silicon Valley startups are now getting underway to help fill this huge void.
- One of the earliest pioneers is a young man named Salman Khan who began posting instructional math and science videos for his nephews back in 2004. Millions of people have watched his math and science tutorials which now number over 2700 free lessons, each about ten minutes long. Kahn explains concepts as his pen swiftly draws illustrations on a digital board. Students can also work math problem sets, proceeding through a sequence that stretches from arithmetic to calculus—almost any math subject and more. We also owe a big thank you to Bill Gates for supporting Kahn’s efforts with the funding. The following article provides a good overview of what he has accomplished and made an available to all, and for free. “The Math of Khan– Not just a YouTube phenomenon, but a model for educational transformation.”
- Udemy.com, is a great example of new trends in higher education. It is a community platform that makes it easy for anyone to build or just take an online course. They offer over 6,000 online courses on all kinds of interesting and/or needed subjects. Their goal is to dramatically change education by empowering millions of experts to teach & share what they know. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you end up taking their classes at some point.
The writing is on the wall, education is changing—and it’s about time! The existing system has become so corrupt that the majority of our education system will be unable to compete with the various new educational opportunities and will either have to change dramatically or implode. They deserve no sympathy. The degree to which they have selfishly put their own interests above the interests of our children, with whose lives they have been entrusted, has more than earned them their fate.
Yes, this new world of education has a lot of development and construction in front of it and won’t fully turn things around until the world of business accepts their credentials. But it will. It’s just a matter of time.
In the meantime, what can you do?
Things to do now
While we await the full unfolding of this new world of education, there’s a lot we can do for our children, for the people whose job performance and careers you may be involved with, and last but by no means least, for yourself. Here some things to consider:
1- Take full advantage of the new online educational resources and use the internet itself as a resource. Isn’t it amazing how much information is instantly at your disposal when all you do is ask a question, any question?
2- By their mid-teens, see to it that your children work part time in addition to going to school, preferably at something that interests them. If they can’t get a paying job, they should do volunteer work. The truth is that they are likely to learn a lot more in the real world than they learn at school. It will begin their exposure to the world of work, help them to learn what they’re good at and what they’re not good at, what types of work they like and don’t like, how to work as part of a team, and so on. This exposure will go a long way to helping them in their selection of higher education and a career path.
3- Reject the idea that it’s second class, or even a failure, to completely forgo a four year college degree. Also be aware that school is what they’ve been doing their whole lives and they want to continue, because that’s what they are used to. These pressures are real and should not be ignored.
4- Ask yourself if they’re ready to go to college. In Europe it’s common to take what they call a gap year. It’s the year after secondary education in which the graduate takes time off for travel, work, or public service before making a decision whether to go on to higher education. Maybe your child should do that.
5- Maybe they shouldn’t go the four year university route at all. We tend to think our children won’t have a happy and successful life if they don’t get that four year degree, yet studies show otherwise. Getting a college degree doesn’t measurably increase their success in life, and many, perhaps most people, can have a better lifetime standard of living by choosing NOT to get an undergraduate degree. What if they can make more money and have a happier life as a repair technician (autos, elevators, healthcare equipment, computers), a healthcare specialist (radiology tech, nursing). How about being a chef? A personal trainer? A department store buyer?
These aren’t careers to wrinkle you nose at. They’re not only satisfying life paths for millions; they also often pay a lot better than the average four year degree ($57,000 or so for a B.A.).
When you stop and think about it, the options are pretty amazing. Why not have your child do what he or she is good at? Do what they like? Doesn’t that sound like a path to a better life? What it tells you is to seriously consider other routes if you think it might apply, such as technical schools or perhaps some type of paid apprenticeship or work/study program. How about the armed forces, with the opportunity to get your education on them?
6- A university degree does apply if you child wants to and is suited to pursuing a degree that requires it such as for becoming a doctor, dentist, engineer, biologist and so on. If, however, you’re making this choice for financial reasons, be careful. You may have traded a poorer quality of life for no real financial gain in the long run. Consider this:
Professor Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University did a comparison of the livelihoods of plumbers and doctors. His finding was that doctors do have a bigger salary, but only after nearly a decade of expensive education before making any real salary, after which the doctor is hit by a very high progressive tax rate. Because of all the costs the doctor incurs, the taxes and the lost wages, he says, “plumbers make more, and have almost the same spending power over their lifetime as general practitioners.”
7- Get an education the real world wants and needs. Take information technology and high tech, for example. Employers can’t begin to fill the available jobs and the average salary range for a new tech hire is now running for $80-120,000 a year! Reality is beginning to sink in as students are increasingly seeking an education that matches future job opportunities. According to enrollment statistics from UC San Diego, for example, declared majors in biology and engineering have jumped 51 percent and 21 percent, respectively over the last 10 years, while arts majors are down 26 percent .
8- Consider the 2 + 2 year option. Should you end up leaning towards the four year degree, but are unsure it’s the right option and/or if you need to go heavily into debt to do so, why not consider a two year school first, then finish up at a four year institution. The diploma will be from the four year institution. Nobody knows the difference, nor do they care. This option not only has some serious financial advantages, it also may offer better instruction. Two year colleges are places where the teachers teach the classes, rather than grad students. The emphasis is on teaching, instead of sports, and they encourage faculty to interact with students instead of doing research, taking sabbaticals and sitting on campus committees.
I am by no means suggesting that people do without further education as I believe it’s critical to get additional education beyond high school. The question is, what should it be and when and where should they go to get it. I’m here to say that there are more options to consider than you may have realized and relieved to say that there are increasingly new and interesting opportunities to explore.