Sugata Mitra: Build A School In The Cloud

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I should let you know that when it comes to identifying market opportunities, I don't see the future.  I see the present.  I'm not an innovator, I just pay attention to what's happening- and this is happening....



www.npr.org/2013/03/05/173416593/skipping-out-on-college-and-hacking-your-education

www.uncollege.org/

[formerroomate99]

Mar 1, 2013 13:55:25 GMT -5 swamp said:

I think an important part of school is socialization and all the life lessons you learn dealing with other people.  That's kind of hard to do from behind a computer.....

I tend to disagree with the idea that school is so vitally important to socialization.  I can't think of any job I've had or organization I've belonged to where everyone was exactly the same age exactly the same educational level and similar economic status (since many schools serve economically homogenous communities).  In the real world, you have to deal with people of different ages and different educational levels, and you get absolutely no experience with that in school. 

And while you can't expect social skills to develop in a kid who is sitting alone in his room all day, there are plenty of other ways to socialize that are much more like the real world.   

[formerroomate99]

But once you are 25+ what's the dif age wise?

My past 3 jobs covering 4 companies 3 either the entire company or my entire dept was master/phd level folks.

The 4th had ba level support staff- both admin and data coordinator or analyst

If being over 25 automatically meant that you can deal with workers who are decades older or younger than you, then they wouldn't be writing articles about younger and older workers having trouble relating to each other. 

At my job, I deal with people who have much less eduacation than I do, much more education, and education in areas that are completely different than mine.   I have to deal with coworkers who are decades older than I am and decades younger than I am, and at completely different stages of life than I am.  It is nothing like school. 

[bean29]

www.jsonline.com/features/food/cooking-courses-move-online-3o8r01t-193309391.html

Above is an article form the local paper about a virtual cooking class offered in our area.  The girl the story about is apparently quite the cook.  her family also keeps a Kosher Kitchen- one of the benefits of the on-line virtual model.

The instructor provides 3 recipies for each lesson.  The varry in difficulty and expense.  Families have to shoulder the burden of the ingredients themselves, which keeps the lessons from being constrained by a defficient school budget.

My DD is taking an on-line HS Biology course through the local community college.  I had asked her how they would do labs - it is all done on-line.  She has been doing the coursework during her study hall.  She used the on-line version vs. conventional classroom b/c she could not get the course in with the other classes she was taking this semester.  I had to pay $80 or so but that is not a huge burden for us so I let her try it.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Mar 7, 2013 11:30:32 GMT -5 formerroomate99 said:

Mar 1, 2013 13:55:25 GMT -5 swamp said:

I think an important part of school is socialization and all the life lessons you learn dealing with other people.  That's kind of hard to do from behind a computer.....

I tend to disagree with the idea that school is so vitally important to socialization.  I can't think of any job I've had or organization I've belonged to where everyone was exactly the same age exactly the same educational level and similar economic status (since many schools serve economically homogenous communities).  In the real world, you have to deal with people of different ages and different educational levels, and you get absolutely no experience with that in school. 

And while you can't expect social skills to develop in a kid who is sitting alone in his room all day, there are plenty of other ways to socialize that are much more like the real world.   

 I've brought this very point up many times.  School doesn't prepare people for anything because it's so unlike anything you'll ever experience in life- and you're stuck there for 12 to 16 years or longer.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I just usually figure an adult at work is an adult at work. If they are 25 or 60 and our jobs interact....I expect them to do their job professionally. End of story.

What? Seriously?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

A couple of M.I.T. professors are already starting to whine about what they see coming.  They will not survive.

"Home Schooling" is now mainstream.  You can rest assured that when you mention homeschooling to someone and they look at you funny, or they start stammering or mumbling about 'socialization'- they're the crazy ones.  Unless you live under a rock, you're at least aware that the government school system is in some stage of collapse, the argument now is where in the process of the end stage it is, but it's no longer debated by well-informed people.

College is next.  The collapse of the college and university system is a little easier to put a period on- it will be precipitated by the collapse of the student loan debt bubble, and the certain-to-be-proposed, but ultimately denied attempt to bail out Sally Mae; and the ultimate acceptance by investors, and the taxpayers that this bailout goes to the borrowers- student loan forgiveness is all but certain.  What will follow is a drying up of all education financing.  Education will soon after become an all-cash, consumer-driven proposition that will look much different than today's large, lumbering, 18th century model.  

The schools that adapt quickly, or those already laying the groundwork have a shot at survival.  Most will be overtaken by entrepreneurial startups, and those- like these- who fight the tide, will die.

Education is the next billion dollar, and maybe the first trillion dollar opportunity.  You should get some of it.

bits.blogs.nytimes.com/<wbr>2013/03/25/beware-of-the-high-<wbr>cost-of-free-online-courses/#.<wbr>UVLhv1a2WoY

[Deleted]

I just ordered several books on hacking college....

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Mar 27, 2013 10:57:35 GMT -5 @wrongsideof30 said:

AtlanticCoastofFloridaPaul ,  are you homeschooling your kids?  It seems like you're following all of the same homeschooling blogs and websites that I do. Just wondering why you are following this trend so closely.

We are very seriously considering leaving traditional (private) schooling for home schooling.  If you're doing it, I'm all ears- I need to learn all I can.  My main motivation is a better education with more flexibility to travel about.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I have an old high school acquaintance that is a full-blooded libertarian home schooler- she gave me this, and she shoots me info on a lot of this stuff.  We used to share a political brain in high school and college.

[zibazinski]

Please stop thinking of schools as free daycare for working parents.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Mar 28, 2013 15:32:42 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Please stop thinking of schools as free daycare for working parents.

?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Mar 28, 2013 11:37:11 GMT -5 @wrongsideof30 said:

Mar 28, 2013 10:50:07 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

I have an old high school acquaintance that is a full-blooded libertarian home schooler- she gave me this, and she shoots me info on a lot of this stuff.  We used to share a political brain in high school and college.

 
Is she "The Libertarian Homeschooler"?  I LOVE her on FB!

No- she's just "a" libertarian homeschooler, not "the" libertarian homeschooler.

[zibazinski]

I'm tired of the posters who whine about their kids being off so much and what's a working parent to do? School is for an education, not to babysit.