In the Chronicle, Professor Frank Donoghue laments the exponential rise in students who both view college and choose majors primarily as an investment in future earnings.
I sympathize with Dr. Donoghue. But, pragmatically speaking, we need to look forward instead of backward. The days of most big-time universities centering on mind enhancement, classic texts, and late-night philosophical bull sessions may be past the point of no return.
But so what? Why can’t we decouple liberal learning from college degrees?
In fact, if we don’t, we run the risk of embracing our own form of credentialism. That is, instead of “degrees” credentialing employability, the “degrees” credential a developed mind.
We don’t need an experience that requires 30 years of loan payments to achieve intellectual growth. The market is ripe for disruptive technologies that bring our desired form of education to the public more effectively and efficiently than the ivory tower.
Any takers? I’m game.
