Consider two choices when you want to learn a topic:
- Attending the lectures of the best professors, of best school in the world regarding the field/topic. The lecturer has invented the whole field and has experience in that field and years of teaching.
- Attending the class of a lecturer who has read books in the topic and its field is somewhat related to the field/topic that you want to learn. And you get a degree by finishing.
Today many people are choosing the second option. You go to a university in your country, hopefully a good one, attend classes, do the assignments, projects and … and finally they give you a degree.
But if you think about it, the marketing course that you took and the lecturer was somewhat nice and good, is also thought by the top business schools and it is available online, with full material and it is free. You have control over pace and timing of your education. You can read and watch the content at 2:00 pm if it suits you. You do not need to shuttle back and forth between home, classes and work. And it saves a lot of time that can be used to learn even more.
The current education system is disrupted
In the old days, we needed a teacher that taught others. Because the knowledge and experience was locked in that person. The way to distribute it was to write a book or give lectures in universities.
In the old days, the person that came back from MIT to Iran and taught at Sharif University could add a lot of value. He knew a whole lot more and had seen much more, being it processes, know-how, trends …. But not anymore.
Another point of view: I studied at the top engineering school in Iran and I had good teachers. Yet the system felt somewhat broken. Some lecturers had to spend so much time for classes that you could not contact them for anything else other than the course that you took. Because they did not have more time! So you have access to this good professor and he is obliged to teach you things that can be learned more easily or things that are useless. At the same time, he/she does not have any time for you because the classes and lectures are eating up his time.
I remember a professor which came to class, taught us from a source book and wrote equations from the book and discussed the topics as in the book! The professor should not be a printing machine. Yet the system has made it behave this way.
The education system is disrupted.
Or it is f###ed-up to be more exact.
Why not record the lectures that are given each year with minimal change? and then never force a professor to spend time doing the same thing over and over each year. And never force students to attend this lectures physically. They can watch online. This concept is not something new. Hopefully we see are platforms like Coursera.org and Edx gaining traction.
The new ways of learning are 10 times better than the old ones. So why is the old system still in place?
So why is the old system still in place?
The answer, I believe, lies in the book of Carlota Perez : Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital. In her book Perez explains that there is much more inertia and resistance to change in socio-institutional framework. On the other hand, financial capital supports innovation and pushes the technology and deepens the gap between the new economy and the old. I think the same thing has happened to our systems of education.
When we use a system for the first time, we detect the flaws and inefficiencies. But over time, we adapt and accept. This is understandable when the alternative solutions provide negligible improvements. But over time, the gap grows and restructuring the system creates 10x performance. In socio-institutional frameworks, those people who are maintaining the system know about this gap but they might not have the power or willing to change the system. On the other hand in techno-economic framework, take businesses for example, a company must adopt the new system which is more efficient or else it will die to the competition.
It helps to think in terms of benefits and responsibilities. Business owners are the direct beneficiary of their own work and system and they face the results of their own actions in terms of financial gain. But in socio-institutional framework, such as formal education systems, the society benefits, but those people creating and maintaining the system, do not benefit directly.
Considering the framework of benefits and responsibilities, the Lambda School is an interesting concept.
who takes responsibility?
Do the people who designed the curriculum for a degree in university take responsibility for their work? No. Is it even measurable? Maybe.
Who takes responsibility about whether the courses that a student takes in college are useful for their future? No One.
I remember we had to spend hours designing 2D blueprints for mechanical parts by hand, on paper, while almost everything was done using CAD in industry. Hence, students spent a lot less time with computers and CAD software. Why? Because the system was old and they did not want to change the course content. The lecturer had been teaching it for 20 years and argued that the course material was military-grade secret in times of WWI and WWII.
The ones who made the education system do not take responsibility of your future.
If you take responsibility of your learning, you should not limit yourself to college. It might be tempting to drop out because the system feels like an impediment to learning and living. If you take a degree, you probably have some formal degree that is acceptable in society and the institutional framework. But if you drop out, you should also take responsibility of your decision. So lets see what values the current system provides.
Where is the value of Current education system?
The value of university is in networking. “People” to be more exact. Where else can you find a place where all the smart people go? It is hard to find a place where young smart people spend a lot of time together. It might be a logical argument for studying in college: “Everyone goes because everyone goes.” (quoted from Benedict Evans)
Update 2020, Sep:
Marc Andreessen discusses this topic in a podcast with a focus on US. Worths the time.
