Comments on: How to Fail College http://www.aaronbuer.com/how-to-fail-college/ student ministry | leadership | parenting | life Fri, 20 May 2016 15:45:06 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.18 By: Aaron Buer http://www.aaronbuer.com/how-to-fail-college/#comment-597 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 13:49:31 +0000 http://www.aaronbuer.com/?p=2351#comment-597 Hey Luke,

Thanks for your thoughts. I think there is immense value to being in college and interacting with other students and professors. However, I am with you in that the current system the cost often outweighs the value.

]]> By: Luke Ganzevoort http://www.aaronbuer.com/how-to-fail-college/#comment-583 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 01:58:27 +0000 http://www.aaronbuer.com/?p=2351#comment-583 Aaron,

I think you have some really good points. I’ve definitely put some time into thinking about topics like this myself.

I’ll start off with agreeing with your last point. I’m going to go out and say it, I don’t think college is the best way to educate people for most professions. For example, my cousin hired me right out of high school to work for his small engineering firm. During the school year I’ve been working part time and been at school full time. The sad thing is, I’ve learned far more at work regarding my degree (electrical engineering) than at school so far.

I think we should do away with the college system, and move to a more online education. Actually, most of the information I’ve learned at work (aside from just experience) is from the internet (especially YouTube). For example, have you ever checked out Khan Academy? This website is built for learning. There are hundreds of videos on a bunch of different topics and they’re just getting started! I’ve used this to teach myself higher level math after I had no idea what my professor was talking about. You can take tests that evaluate you and tell you what videos you should watch, or what problems you need to practice. And the best part is that it’s FREE! I don’t see the point of paying thousands of dollars to learn something that is already at my fingertips.

I think more websites like Khan Academy should rise up. Maybe once they’re a little more developed, online “Academies” could create tests that evaluate the students. Once the student passes a certain set of tests, he/she can earn a degree. The only thing left is for employers to consider these degrees from online academies, legitimate. And BOOM, you’ve bypassed the entire college system in a much cheaper and more efficient manner.
Feel free to point out my flaws in this theory, I know it’s not perfect.

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