How does one teach, coach and mentor people with instant access to everything? What jobs are we educating for? Read excerpts from the discussion below.
ROSEN: American higher ed is in the process of getting disrupted. If tuition inflation continues, it will be $650,000 for a degree in 25 years. Part of the problem is that much of the spending is going towards non-academic concerns.
CABRERA: There are a number of perverse incentives that encourage higher ed to pursue goals that aren’t aligned with the needs of society. You’re encouraged to have a smaller impact, to change fewer lives, because that makes you better off. If you have an endowment of $32 billion and every year educate 22,000 students, you've mobilized $1.5 million to educate one person.
KLAWE: Harvey Mudd has 750 students and a tuition of $42,500, but 80% of our students are on financial aid. We’re creating scientists and engineers who are ready to make a difference in the world.
ROSEN: We can’t deceive ourselves into thinking that we can extend Harvey Mudd across American higher education. It’s too expensive, too high-touch; we just can’t afford it. For-profits have grown substantially because we understand the needs of a set of students the traditional system doesn’t work for.
KLAWE: In the growth industries, you need to have great math skills and you’ve got to understand technology. It’s much more than a credential.
CABRERA: You can download TED Talks and YouTube videos by the world’s leading thinkers in every topic. You don’t need to be stuck with the lecturer at your university. Many students choose to watch better teachers online.
KLAWE: We have amazing faculty, and our students are not watching YouTube in their dorm rooms.
ROSEN: Colleges compete on prestige, on the number of books in the library and the beauty of the campus, but we don’t know if a student at Georgetown learns more than one at Northwestern. For a segment of the economy as big as education, we really ought to know that.
Participants
