Building from the Basics

I reported in an article on for-profit colleges and universities last week that Congress is often wary of these educational institutions, all of whom offer most, if not all, of their classes online.  Interestingly, Bill Gates sees the online mode of instruction as the wave of the future.  Correct that - not just the wave of the future.  Gates, in a speech at the Techonomy conference, declared that: "Five years from now on the web for free you'll be able to find the best lectures in the world."  That would be great, except that the majority of classes offered online today are offered by those for-profit schools.  The same for-profit schools that the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) report decried as self-serving - more interested in turning a buck than educating their students.

So, is five years enough to take today's for-profit colleges and universities to a level where they'll be able to offer classes that rival any lecture offered elsewhere?  Actually, Gates doesn't see that as the answer.  He sees online education as evolving to the point where information is so readily available that the physical college or university is actually displaced - "It will be better than any single university." he says.  In Gates' vision, students are able to access course materials online for a fraction of the cost (not exactly what the for-profits have in mind) and will be able to earn college credit towards a degree while doing so.

In the conversation, Gates, unsurprisingly, also noted some other problems with the American educational system.  Colleges have become far too expensive and are molded in such a way that a majority of adults haven't the time or resources to attend.  Simultaneously, the government continues to cut Pell Grants and other forms of financial aid.  There's also an issue of instructional delivery.  Gates believes that most English-language textbooks are intimidating for students.  Students in China are far outpacing those in the United States.  Interestingly, the textbooks in China are one-third the size.

Where is the American educational system taking us?  If we continue to allow for-profit colleges and universities to control the online marketplace, we'll never see the mass education of American citizens in the way that Gates envisions it.  While creating an open forum of affordable, high-quality, easily accessible education is important, there are more important issues to solve first.  Students will never feel encouraged to learn, whether in a traditional classroom or online, if educational resources are hard to understand, poorly worded, or just plain intimidating, as Gates suggests.   Let's start by fixing what we have the power to fix now and worry about the future of online education as it evolves.

Photo Credit: Lori Tingey