Full post here.

Kimball responds to a letter penned by concerned professors at San Jose State:

‘Online courses are dangerous because they would “compromise the quality of education” and “stifle diverse viewpoints.”  Ha, ha, ha. As if “the quality of education” and genuine diversity were features of most colleges and universities these days.’

I’ve been warned not to call it a bubble, as if suddenly, all of that student-loan debt, the assumption that college is the only way to get ahead, and the continued devaluation of the degree weren’t going to have consequences.  Add to this the insolubility of the boomer ‘greatness’ model in many sectors of our economy, along with rapidly changing technology and well, it sure looks like a bubble.  Many changes are coming.

Educational guilds are going to be shaken up to some extent, and I support a challenge to 60’s generation idealism and Leftism that has since taken root in many of our universities.  That kind of idealism places impossible demands on our institutions.  For all the talk of diversity, meritocracy, and tolerance, well…it doesn’t take great insight to see where much of that leads.

Technology is no panacea (of course), and technological utopianism comes with its own true-believers, hucksters, and salesman.  But it can help us rethink the core educational mission.

From the comments:

‘I see potential in online classes. I see their usefulness. But I do not see them replacing the traditional university. The university has failed us because liberalism has taken over and stifled intellectualism. We need to think of alternative paths to education. Online education may be a part of the solution but it is not the solution.’

Few people expect the traditional university to disappear altogether.  As for political philosophy, I’d be happy with the old liberalism (probably not coming back, certainly not as it was), or at least those people who know the most about education accepting change a little more flexibly, even if some are awash in Continental philosophy, and yes, cultural Marxism.

We live in interesting times.

Addition: How do you stop cheating with online courses?

From The American Conservative Blog:  The false promise of MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses).

Related On This Site:  Repost: Mark Cuban From His Blog: ‘The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon’…From The New Criterion: ‘Higher Ed: An Obituary’,,,Ron Unz At The American Conservative: ‘The Myth Of American Meritocracy’

Analagous to old media? What to change and what to keep: From The Arnoldian Project: ‘Architecture, Campus, And Learning To Become’

Should you get a college degree, probably, but you also probably shouldn’t lose sight of why you’re going and divorce yourself entirely from the cost:  Gene Expression On Charles Murray: Does College Really Pay Off?…Charles Murray In The New Criterion: The Age Of Educational Romanticism…