Education Being Redefined. Compare and Contrast.

Education in the traditional sense is being questioned in the context of achieving the American Dream. Becoming self-reliant and empowered decision-makers are qualities that are being valued over the traditional learning in classrooms. 

The rising costs of education and mortgages are leading young people to question the pursuit of happiness, when there is such an accumulation of debt, and not a happiness payoff.  Dale J. Stephens, 20 years old and the Founder of UnCollege in the article, "Why Go to College at All?" says that many young people are questioning the investment of a college education and would be better served to determine an alternative way to use their time and resources.   Rather than investing in a structure that only teaches one to “follow directions, meet deadlines and memorize facts,” he proposes a self-directed study guided by mentors in internships, or creating "project-based learning", or creating a start-up company that offer huge lessons in self-reliance and accountability.

The achievement of wealth, status and power through a college education is not a guarantee of one’s future career or life happiness; in fact, it has increased the debt quotient to encourage consumption.  With the ever-increasing debt of a college education, mortgages and keeping up the appearance of wealth and status, young people, according to Stephens, "will have a harder time to disengage from a system" that is not preparing them for self-reliance, empowerment and happiness.    Could the   traditional system be festered with the accumulation of debt, disappointment and lost resources, rather than prosperity?

But in "I Don't Want My Children to go to College," educator, Stacia Brown still experiences the traditional classroom as an opportunity for valuable “life-long” learning.  The value of “human interaction” and the encouragement that comes from free-form discussions goes beyond an on-line tutorial, especially for disadvantaged students. There is a high value where students from different social and economical groups meet together as a way to openly discuss racial and controversial subjects, and acquire insights.  Brown would assert that this experience is not just about acquiring soft skills for the marketplace but are the “true cornerstones of lifelong learning.” 

Buzzfeed’s president Jon Steinberg disagrees.  Traditional college does not prepare the college graduate as they “ come in with no skills that are usable to us, with the exception of programmers” and sees a traditional college degree as “a lot of debt” and prefers his children to work as an intern, rather than sit in a traditional classroom to learn about themselves and actually be mentored and collaborate in an internship.   Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says that it is more than skills, college is a “rite of passage to help students learn how to live away from home.” However Steinberg and Stephens assert that learning to make independent decisions in an unstructured environment through collaboration and mentorship truly prepares young people to know their strengths and become self-reliant, not by sitting in the classroom.