Spun off from Alberta Politics thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame
When I have children, I am more and more thinking that the idea of saving for university might be an antiquated task. I grew up in a household where university was the expectation, nothing less. I attended and graduated, but now in my career I see the plight of debt-riddden students and job prospects, you can basically make a career for yourself learning things with online classes and come out at about the same level of skill if not higher. Coding/programming to be specific, which you most certainly don't need to pay thousands of dollars to learn.
|
Post-secondary education is more ripe for disruption than any institution we have. It's basically operating under the same model it has for centuries: a lecturer stands in front of a classroom and reads from notes and books. The students take notes, leave class, and prepare for exams.
A perfectly sensible system back when books were rare and expensive, and attending a face-to-face lecture was an efficient way to spread the information contained in them. It's beyond baffling why it's the still the foundation of our system today, and why people willingly pay through the nose to sit in an auditorium with 300 other students taking notes from a lecture that could easily be captured on video and watched anywhere by a student.
I learned about the education flip just before I had my kids 10 years ago. That's where lectures are watched away from school, and students gather at school to collaborate on projects. I figured by the time my kids were grown we'd be there. Seeing as there has been almost no progress or innovation in post-secondary education delivery in the last decade, I'm no longer hopeful. Vested interests are proving remarkably resistant to change.
So we're saving $40k for each of our kids for education - they'll have to pay the rest on their own. It's frustrating to know that money will go towards an incredibly antiquated system that is far, far more expensive than it needs to be, and will serve our kids poorly.