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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday September 05 2018, @10:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the will-Harvard-be-one-of-them? dept.

CNBC:

There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, but Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen says that half are bound for bankruptcy in the next few decades.

Christensen is known for coining the theory of disruptive innovation in his 1997 book, "The Innovator's Dilemma." Since then, he has applied his theory of disruption to a wide range of industries, including education.

In his recent book, "The Innovative University," Christensen and co-author Henry Eyring analyze the future of traditional universities, and conclude that online education will become a more cost-effective way for students to receive an education, effectively undermining the business models of traditional institutions and running them out of business.

What percentage of their graduates will be bankrupt?


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Wednesday September 05 2018, @03:13PM (15 children)

    by BsAtHome (889) on Wednesday September 05 2018, @03:13PM (#730775)

    ...that online education will become a more cost-effective way for students to receive an education, effectively undermining the business models of traditional institutions and running them out of business.

    This is the primary problem. Education is not a business. At least, it should not be. Education is a societal premise for having the society we (like to) have. Commercializing education is a sure way to make the division in our society even more pronounced than already the case. In an egalitarian view on society, educational institutions are not supposed to be commercial business; they serve the commons.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @04:46PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @04:46PM (#730806)

    Well, all these people going into higher schooling just so they can party, get that 'piece of paper', and later find a high-paying job don't care about education anyway, so this sounds great for them.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:53PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:53PM (#730851) Journal

      I would hope that they don't last more than about one semester.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:50PM (2 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:50PM (#730847) Homepage Journal

    Do please specify that you mean "economic egalitarianism" in the future as it directly contradicts actual egalitarianism which advocates economic equality of opportunity rather than outcome.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Wednesday September 05 2018, @09:09PM (1 child)

      by BsAtHome (889) on Wednesday September 05 2018, @09:09PM (#730954)
      Nowhere did I talk about "economic egalitarianism" and no, I do not mean anything of that kind.

      It is about an egalitarian view on society. Think of it as in the French motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité.


      However, you might need to get an education before you can correctly interpret the concepts behind the French motto. But then you'd need deep pockets to pay for that education. I'd prefer the commons to pay for the privilege of understanding by means of education.
      • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday September 05 2018, @09:14PM

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday September 05 2018, @09:14PM (#730958) Homepage Journal

        Again, that is economic egalitarianism not egalitarianism. You would know this if you sourced knowledge from multiple places rather than only from professors who lean to the extreme left.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:55PM (9 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:55PM (#730853) Journal

    I've heard people complain about paying property taxes for public education. "I don't have a kid!" they say.

    The best answer I have heard is:

    If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

    (Oh, I guess that experiment is currently in progress.)

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @07:03PM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @07:03PM (#730901)

      If I get ignorance either way, why would I want to continue throwing money into the fire?

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 05 2018, @08:42PM (5 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 05 2018, @08:42PM (#730944) Journal

        I'll give you a Touché.

        I think the reason we are getting ignorance is due to insufficient resources invested in educating our society.

        But it's all good as long as certain people can loot the public treasury.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 4, Informative) by Reziac on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:58AM (4 children)

          by Reziac (2489) on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:58AM (#731118) Homepage

          America already leads the world in resources spent per educated head:
          https://rossieronline.usc.edu/blog/u-s-education-versus-the-world-infographic/ [usc.edu]
          Note the dramatic disconnect between spending and results.

          See also:
          https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/news/10-year-spending-trends-in-u-s-education/ [cu-portland.edu]

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 06 2018, @01:02PM (3 children)

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 06 2018, @01:02PM (#731275) Journal

            America already leads the world in resources spent per educated head

            Yet many schools seem very constrained for resources and money. Interesting.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
            • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:52PM (1 child)

              by Reziac (2489) on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:52PM (#731329) Homepage

              Unions and bloated administrations suck up some of the money (seriously, why does any university need over 100 "diversity and inclusion" personnel?); a lot of the rest is wasted. Even so, there's no correlation between amount spent per head and results. Among the various states, there's actually a pretty good inverse relationship. Frex, my state has always been down in the lower third for spending, yet is consistently in the top three for results.Some of that is being a high-IQ state, but a lot more is being slow to turn loose of traditional methods.

              Spending budget on high tech has not helped either. My evaluation of gradeschool-level 'educational software' is that it teaches how to make the program spit up the desired result, but doesn't actually teach the subject. Throwing laptops at each kid certainly hasn't improved the actual level of education (in fact, the only real studies I've seen on that have concluded the more high tech, the less real education).

              We were a lot better-educated when it was fannies in seats (the number per teacher doesn't matter, but classes used to average 30-35 in K-12 and up to hundreds at university), eyes front (disruptors were actively punished, not allowed to run amok as they do today), and one teacher with chalk and a blackboard, and a lot of fairly deep rote learning (much ballyhooed today, but works best for most kids) but very little if any homework (kids process what they learn during idle downtime, not by doing makework) -- all of which can be achieved on a shoestring budget. I hie from that era; I've seen the difference firsthand. Throw a ca.1900 4th-grade primer at today's average highschooler, and most won't even manage to muddle through it.

              --
              And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
              • (Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:04PM

                by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:04PM (#731356) Journal

                (seriously, why does any university need over 100 "diversity and inclusion" personnel?); a lot of the rest is wasted.

                <sarcasm>

                • Every snowflake needs a special place
                • Nobody's feewings should be hurt
                • We cannot tolerate anyone being offended. Zero tolerance. We are very intolerant of that!
                • Anyone intolerant of others must be punished somehow!
                • Diversity and Inclusion specialists can help determine how many restrooms to build. Some subsets of the 87 (or is it 89?) genders can share restrooms. Tracking and classifying these subsets is a significant administrative task. But significant savings are realized if it is only necessary to provide six restrooms that the 87 (or 89?) genders can use. So clearly this staff is worthwhile from a bugetary and legal standpoint.

                </sarcasm>

                Spending budget on high tech has not helped either.

                I think Microsoft, Apple and Google would disagree that it has helped them.

                Throwing laptops at each kid certainly hasn't improved the actual level of education

                Stronger teachers are needed who can throw the laptops with much greater force. Hiring them requires more money.

                disruptors were actively punished, not allowed to run amok as they do today

                Amen to that! But the diversity and inclusion specialists say that we cannot suppress the creativity of any students who are merely trying to express themselves.

                And, homework is so 20th century. Both homework and after school jobs detract from brain engagement activities such as video games and social media. Just ask the diversity experts.

                --
                People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
            • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:43PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:43PM (#731349)

              It's about what the schools are spending money on. Increasingly, money is being spent on positions that don't directly help students. One of the reasons that charter schools outperform public schools (at least in some places like Boston, MA) is that they run very lean administrations and have more people in the classroom interacting with students.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @10:29PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @10:29PM (#730991)

      My answer is, "Where is your next doctor going to come from?"

      • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:01AM

        by Reziac (2489) on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:01AM (#731122) Homepage

        India, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria...

        --
        And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.