Brainstorming About Higher Education

Suppose we didn’t have ivy covered buildings which house classes, suppose as well that we could start de novo in thinking about higher education. What would we do?

Each day I educate myself on the Internet. I learn what’s in the news, read essays from my favorite blog sites, communicate with intelligent colleagues and get the previous night’s baseball scores. I am a student of the Internet. In fact, I educate myself throughout the day intermittently turning to my computer for information, knowledge and, on some occasions, wisdom.

As I see it, this should be the blackboard of the future. Imagine having an education whenever you want it unencumbered by tuition payments or class schedules. Imagine as well having the best minds available to you without having to endure political diatribes which often substitute for honest discourse.

Of course, there are universities in cyberspace and several actually have solid curricula. But unfortunately most ape conventional university programs and all are eager to obtain accreditation, the gateway to respectability.

What I’m daydreaming about is different. It would be an informal university with YouTube presentations by the world’s great instructors. Milton Friedman would be teaching economics; Pitirim Sorokin, sociology; Immanuel Kant, philosophy. Yes, of course, they have all passed this mortal coil, but I’m sure you get my drift.

Moreover, every lecture would be accompanied by a reading list with books either read through “Kindle” or easily ordered through Amazon. Should students want a degree or credential, they would go to centers where exams could be taken. It should be as easy as buying tickets for a movie. In fact, the centers would have interactive exams on line.

To deal with the labeling effect, honors would be conferred to students who do very well. This would allow parents to say, Johnny graduated with “a first” in history.

University professors will claim that this is an inadequate way to learn. Shameless as most are, they will excoriate this exercise as “matchbook degree programs,” even though these really aren’t degree programs at all.

Since most higher education is an exercise in trained incapacity, the Internet University could easily demonstrate its progeny know at least as much as students from yesteryear. In fact, when your computer lights up and says “you have mail” it may be a lecture you really want to hear. Now wouldn’t that be unusual.

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