Free Education

So I found one guy who is really doing it, giving away knowledge, free, no charge, for real. Khan Academy has 2,700 videos, exercises and its web site claims 89,100,179 lessons delivered. Are you worried, for-profit educators? You should be. And you million-dollar-a-year college presidents should be too. No doubt it is too soon to be sure about the best way to do this; I find that video presentations are too slow, text works better for me, who knows what works best for most, but this approach has already been proven to work. Interactive teaching is certainly a real application for AI and I believe software can teach better than any human teacher can, day in, day out. Educators should focus on updating the base of knowledge and its presentation, not on problem students, campus security and football games. Government should stop subsidizing brick and mortar colleges and start subsidizing non-profit online education research and development, with access for everyone. And don't forget the essential piece, testing and certification for anyone who acquires useful knowledge by any means. This must become the future, not a world where only the elite can acquire the knowledge needed to advance civilization.

Education - How to fix higher education and student debt

I learned everything I know by self study, and I rose to the corporate director level, as well as made significant contributions to technology including three patents as a non-degree engineer, all as a high school drop out. A key problem is that there is no established way for an individual to prove the level of knowledge achieved by self teaching, and employers want a simple litmus test, x year degree in whatever at accredited university (ranked by reputation). As the rate of change in all areas of knowledge continues to grow exponentially, any degree becomes less and less of a true measure of knowledge, and of course the knowledge obtained quickly becomes obsolete without continuing self study and experience. And so the resume and salary history become the proof of ability that potential employers need later in a career. But there is no profit in simply testing for knowledge, testing can be done with software, as long as some safeguards against fraud are in place. No campus, classrooms, teachers or administrators are needed. Tuition has risen because of the availability of easy credit for student loans, unintended consequences of government regulation. I recognize that many individuals do need the college environment and teaching assistance to learn, and that getting through a degree program demonstrates the ability to function in a way that may be relevant to job performance in the corporate world. But there are many counter examples of those who have made enormous contributions to society and science while not completing the traditional educational process. Einstein, Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg to name just a few. The future demands a recognized method for obtaining the equivalent of any degree by simple testing at low cost. And those who can do this without a formal education will benefit enormously as will society. And non-traditional methods of learning will flourish, as I believe they should. Before the Internet, I had to go to a college library to do research. Those days are long gone, but the higher educational system has not changed very much. A simple requirement that universities offer course material outlines and testing online at little or no cost would create opportunity without the burden of loan debt. Pass a set of tests and a degree is awarded to those who can teach themselves.

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