tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post227839493640651090..comments2024-03-25T15:17:04.488-07:00Comments on Captain Capitalism: How to Give Everyone a Free Education in AmericaCaptain Capitalismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620212946121617985noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-35119948259766479942022-02-10T04:18:58.078-08:002022-02-10T04:18:58.078-08:00wow... that is a nice thought of America's gov...wow... that is a nice thought of America's government, I really appreciated of his workPlayon99https://www.blogger.com/profile/16440494408507500027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-48814641088661570802022-01-17T15:52:31.375-08:002022-01-17T15:52:31.375-08:00I have no problem with your idea about autodidacti...I have no problem with your idea about autodidactic learning on-line. One item that I wish you had gone into more detail about is the value of collaborative learning - learning with your peers. That is probably the major benefit of in-person education; I probably wouldn't have made it through undergrad-level engineering if I had to figure things out on my own. I remember best the things that I only understood after thrashing it out with my friends, each contributing a partial understanding until the group got around to the complete picture. That is possible on-line, but will need new tools (better than Meet/Zoom/Skype era group chat services).<br /><br />A separate side-issue is that not everyone has access to reliable, high-speed internet for visual-based presentations. Our satellite internet connection handles downloads of prepared videos (if you are patient) but doesn't support interactive video. That alone would prevent me from taking part in an on-line education program, unless I'm willing to move (for now, NOT). <br /><br />I think back to talking to an Egyptian about his education (free university level for all). His concern was that there were too many people with theoretical knowledge, and not enough with practical skills. It would be hard to become a plumber, welder or dentist without some way of getting hands-on experience. How would that fit into your on-line based service?Steve Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01351095622514095499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-51375363346853456502022-01-12T16:08:16.089-08:002022-01-12T16:08:16.089-08:00Finally, I though I was the only person who though...Finally, I though I was the only person who thought this way. <br />I used to teach a computer repair and networking course called COputer Service Technician(CST) at a non-regionally accredited degree mill called UEI. I'm not proud of it, but I needed the money. <br /><br />The equipment was years out of date and nothing they'd expect to see on the job, the books for the certification tests were not for the current exams, and the software versions were at least two versions behind--worthless. For the chance to study all this crap, students were charged $11K when I started, and it had gone up to $15K by the time I left. <br /><br />Unlike the school administration, I actually wanted to deliver some value, so I got a static IP address from my Internet provider, at my house, set up a linux web server and created a supplemental course that covered all the things this $15K course should have. <br /><br />I ran my students through the "official curriculum" and gave them all an account on my home server, and the deal was that they'd get access for six months after graduating in case they had to do a refresher for a job interview or take a test as part of applying for a job. <br /><br />My students loved it. I actually got an award from the school for attaining a 98% retention rate among my students. Prior to that it was 60%. <br /><br />There were two CST classes, one taught by me and the other taught by another instructor who basically just rant through the motions. The mistake I made was offering the same access to all the CST students, not just mine. The school found out about it and fired me for conflict of interest, even though I charged nothing for the access to my course and taught everything in the school curriculum before allowing access to the supplemental courses.<br /><br />I have envisioned a purely Internet based education system ever since because it would be really easy to expand this from a one-room operation to nation wide. <br /><br />The testing and credentials could be cheaply administered by the employers themselves, and they could even list preferred schools, subjects and skills. rdtradecraft@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09574628576457019087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-61342705923034208962022-01-04T13:42:50.059-08:002022-01-04T13:42:50.059-08:00Captain:
I regret that one of your initial premis...Captain:<br /><br />I regret that one of your initial premises is simply incorrect. You said:<br /><br />"The first thing would be to rebuild the entire system around what education originally set out to do - educate the most amount of people in the most affordable way possible."<br /><br />That was NEVER the original intent of the governmental "education" system. Going back to the early 1900's try reading the works of the founder of the modern pedagogical and education system, John Dewey (yes, the inventor of the library filing system). His complete intent of having a centralized government take over, and make MANDATORY, the teaching of other people's children was to make them the perfect socialist/communist slaves. Pure and simple; no other purpose was involved.<br /><br />Those systems, along with that brand-new Cabinet post and "Department of Education" from the fed-dot-gov, along with the "teacher's" unions, led to the centralization of the educrats and their now-extant system of brainwashing and indoctrination, all at the expense of the voiceless taxpayers, and without regard for the learning of the "students" (slaves-to-be).<br /><br />It has worked perfectly, as long as you use the correct metric with which to measure it (certainly not standardized tests, which reveal the abject failure to actually teach things like reading, writing and arithmetic). Look at the attitudes of the average 18-year-old coming out of the government indoctrination system and you will find an overwhelming support for collectivism.<br /><br />Take off and nuke the site (government eduction) from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.<br />Blackwing1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-42683693184129143852022-01-04T13:07:43.576-08:002022-01-04T13:07:43.576-08:00I'm self educated in several diverse pursuits ...I'm self educated in several diverse pursuits to a level of mastery. To pay the bills I do engineering consulting in a specialty field. I have no credentials and thus need to work under the "supervision" of an engineer. None of them yet have been able to produce what I can, even after years of my "mentoring" them. Mike Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07566746362550110518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-11342261783886354782022-01-04T08:10:52.635-08:002022-01-04T08:10:52.635-08:00As someone who claims to be an economist, I would ...As someone who claims to be an economist, I would think that you know that nothing is "free".RJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09265953416475552148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-37398625531483675032022-01-03T17:37:49.915-08:002022-01-03T17:37:49.915-08:00Oxford and Cambridge Universities started this way...Oxford and Cambridge Universities started this way. When books with new types of ideas became available, groups of students split the cost to hire a tutor to help them understand what they were reading. Today, students still "read" a subject at Oxbridge. Back then, to split the cost of a tutor required being in the same room. On the Internet, it no longer does.<br /><br />"there would just be a "Degree in Accounting" and you would get it on "the internet." - If you're an immortal Highlander, There Can Only Be One. On the Internet, let's use our freedom of choice. How about learning basic accounting from your choice of <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/accounting-and-financial-stateme" rel="nofollow">Khan Academy</a> or <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-501-introduction-to-financial-and-managerial-accounting-spring-2004/" rel="nofollow">MIT</a>, both courses free right now, today, if you don't need to talk with the professor or get a transcript?<br /><br />The signaling power of compliance for HR is a different issue than learning the subject at hand.<br /><br />Speaking of bullshit hoops to jump through, your use of Blogger's There Can Only Be One Identity-Keeper And That's Google requires tor users to do some free Algorithmic Driving Training (aka Captchas) to post here. Five fucking sets of traffic lights and crosswalks to get to talk about the need for decentralization of information control!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8358039.post-66565914440476822892022-01-03T17:09:32.034-08:002022-01-03T17:09:32.034-08:00Welcome back, Cappy! hope you had a nice Christmas...Welcome back, Cappy! hope you had a nice Christmas break. Appreciate this column very much. <br />My sinful secret is I earn a living as a high school teacher - although in Maths and in a far-off country, which is at least something.<br />You'd think the pandemic would make more people realise the truth of what you've written here. When we had to teach from home (we've been back fully in person for the last 6 months), we split the year groups so one teacher took responsibility for lecturing/teaching new topics, while the rest who taught that year group logged on and checked kids' homework and helped with any questions. Most-productive-learning-evuh! Biased by fact we're an academically selective school, so the kids basically want/are pushed to actually learn. But the online way definitely can work fine. <br />Logically, we could have had the best maths teacher in the country (hi Eddie Woo!) doing the lessons and all the rest helping out/marking exercises etc. Even better, if we had aligned curricula between countries we could have the top few teachers in the whole world "in front" of the kids. <br />Your idea of all students being autodidacts, plus credentialling, is a logical further step. <br />And one extra point - if people are autodidacts, they will not waste ONE single second on crap that is useless or pointless. (buh-bye to 80% of high school or college English classes, which seem designed to indoctrinate politics rather than teach how to write or spread a love of reading...)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com