Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web

[Lunican]

Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web

Bill Gates thinks something is going to die too.

No, it’s not physical books like Nicholas Negroponte â€" instead, Gates thinks the idea of young adults having to go to universities in order to get an education is going to go away relatively soon. Well, provided they’re self-motivated learners.

“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world,” Gates said at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA today. “It will be better than any single university,” he continued.

He believes that no matter how you came about your knowledge, you should get credit for it. Whether it’s an MIT degree or if you got everything you know from lectures on the web, there needs to be a way to highlight that.

Full Article:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/06/bill-gates-education/

[Lunican]

Declining by degree
Will America’s universities go the way of its car companies?

Could America’s universities go the way of its car companies? On the face of it, this seems highly unlikely. Student enrolments are higher than ever this year, as Americans who cannot find jobs linger or return to education. Cambridge, Massachusetts, shows no outward sign of becoming Detroit. Yet there are serious questions about America’s ivory towers.

Full Article:
http://www.economist.com/node/16941775

[simms3]

Haha yea I can see people making those important connections and getting people experience sitting in front of a computer screen.  Hahaha I love Bill Gates, but this idea is sooo quack.  Half of a traditional college education is the experience of living on your own, managing your own time, entering the world of adulthood away from your parents, and meeting people/making important potential lifelong connections.  None of this can be done in your childhood bedroom in front of a computer.

[Lunican]

True, but can't you live on your own, manage your own time, enter adulthood, and meet people without spending $200,000?

[acme54321]

The only people that spend $200k on an education are med students or people who have way more money than brains.

[Lunican]

I'm not really advocating it, but it seems to be in the news a lot more. Probably because the job prospects after graduation aren't any better than if you hadn't gone right now.

Some say bypassing a higher education is smarter than paying for a degree

Across the region and around the country, parents are kissing their college-bound kids -- and potentially up to $200,000 in tuition, room and board -- goodbye.

Especially in the supremely well-educated Washington area, this is expected. It's a rite of passage, part of an orderly progression toward success.

Or is it . . . herd mentality?

Full Article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090903350.html?hpid=topnews

[Jason]

Look at that is happening at the community college level.  More and more courses are being offered virtually.  The only time students meet is for some orientation, testing, labs, and then to collect their paperwork or diploma.

There should be no reason to believe that major universities won't be doing this in the future.  It's cheaper than building dorms, classrooms, and other support facilities for massive student bodies.

[uptowngirl]

True, but can't you live on your own, manage your own time, enter adulthood, and meet people without spending $200,000?

+1

I make really decent money, and it is not due to my degrees, it is due to what I have learned through experience. I have college grads and non college grads starting out at the same pay level, alot of times the non-college grads (who have been working instead of schooling) have better people skills and work ethic. Cause lets face it making two classes a day and hanging out with your friends is most likely less conducive than being responsible for your own course of learning (on-line) and working.

[jandar]

+1

I make really decent money, and it is not due to my degrees, it is due to what I have learned through experience. I have college grads and non college grads starting out at the same pay level, alot of times the non-college grads (who have been working instead of schooling) have better people skills and work ethic. Cause lets face it making two classes a day and hanging out with your friends is most likely less conducive than being responsible for your own course of learning (on-line) and working.

So do you pay double then for employees who worked full time while raising a kid and going to school full time at night?

j/k on a serious note, I think college should be postponed until a little real world experience is earned. College does help with the abstract and theory way of thinking, but it should never trump real world experience, but real world experience can benefit by classes as well.

[uptowngirl]

jandar- I wish I could! Now that takes real skill!