Information isn't more valuable because it's delivered by someone with a degree in a sandstone building in front of a classroom of students.
Access is not longer the point of college.
Ten to twenty or even a hundred years ago, you went to college because that's where the teachers were. That's where other 'learners' were. It's where the books were. It's where you had 'access' to all of those things.
Today, that's no longer the case.
We have access to more books than most universities contain via local libraries or Amazon.
We have access to more information than most university professors personally know via the internet...
Which also gives us access to learners and teachers from across the globe.
A real education no longer has to happen at a university. It no longer has to happen at a school.
It can happen sitting at home on the couch in your pajamas. Or at the library. Or at the local coffee shop. Or at the park or in a forest.
It can happen with a teacher who is in Texas with students across the world via video conferencing..
It can happen with pre-recorded lessons and videos. Or adaptive software that helps you figure out the gaps in your education so you can fill in the holes.
It can happen on YouTube or by watching Ted talks.
Having a teacher or professor show up and deliver a lecture or teach a principle or fact is no longer required. Sometimes it gets in the way of real learning.
Information isn't more valuable because it's delivered by someone with a degree in a sandstone building in front of a classroom of students.
This is no longer what defines (or limits) education and learning.
So why do we (society) keep trying to follow this model?
In a world where any information we want or need to know is a tap or a click away, what really matters (when it comes to educating) is not WHAT a student is taught, but WHO they become in the process.
That's what education is (or should be) about.