Choices in Education

Seth Godin recently wrote about “Education at the Crossroads”. As with all of his writing, he packs a lot to think about in a few paragraphs. I encourage you to read his entire post, but here are his 3 questions about choices in higher education:

• Should this be scarce or abundant?


• Should this be free or expensive?


• Should this be about school or learning?
  
  

I actually have a stake in this conversation (we all do, but that’s another post). I have a college degree, a master’s degree, several years of post-graduate work, and two professional certifications. With all that, at age 51 I find my pace of “learning” accelerating.

Two of my four children have completed their college experience – for now. I fully expect them to extend that in some way in the future. My daughter is in her junior year at college, and I have a junior in high school that is just beginning his college search.

And then there is my grandson, who is 16 years away from college. What will college be like in 2025?

Seth Godin’s closing comment might be a clue: Eight combinations of the three choices above are available and my guess is that all eight will be tried. If I were going to wager, I'd say that the free, abundant learning combination is the one that's going to change the world.

How different is that from current practices? Only about 180 degrees. Stay tuned.