The Changing Face of Education

I was talking with a friend recently about how university education isn’t as prestigious as it once was and how the times have changed. When my parents went to university, it seemed as it if a university had the connotation that it was reversed for those types of people who were truly “intellectual” and wanted to pursue academics. However, for those type of people who wanted to simply learn a trade or go into the workspace, college was a better choice. College didn’t have the kind of “bad” stigma that it does today – where one assumes that only “stupid” or “dumb” kids graduating from university go to college.

            To be honest, I think the system is better this way. There seemed to be a clearer divide between where to go depending on what you wanted to do. Nowadays, it seems like university have blurred that line worst than using the Photoshop tool on it.  Most teenagers I know just go to university, in basically ANY program, because it’s what it is expected of them. However, I, and it seems many other people I’ve talked to (okay I’m only really talking about discussing this with Heinz here), seem to think that university education isn’t even needed. What does it matter? Unless you are doing academic research, most skills for a specific job can be learned in a few months or at most a year. In fact, I believe that learning things like chemistry, physics and math are only really "practical" if your job ends up involving research in those fields or else, while it is interesting, why does it really matter? Heinz agreed that the only jobs that really need schooling are those who are professionals – like doctors or lawyers and need to learn a SET of skills. Yes, yes, I know I am generalizing but I think overall most of what learns in university isn’t even used in the “real world”. Even this engineer I had to interview for an assignment once mentioned that he only used about 5-10% of what he learned in university once he started working.

            I think it’d be a step forward in society if educational institutions had more clearer boundaries so people go decide where they’d want to go. But, I think the face of the university education will change in my lifetime. Or, at least, I hope it does. Recently, Harvard and MIT have been offering free online courses to anyone who cares to take them. While this obviously isn’t as accredited today as actually attending a university, maybe this is where our society is heading. Maybe, our society could head towards self-directed learning after high school through online courses that anyone could take and then…apply for jobs? I don’t know – I guess I haven’t completely thought it out. But I think our current educational structure has to, and will, change.