to do well economically in the modern world, whether as an auto mechanic, computer engineer, reporter, nurse, etc. is:
1) solid writing skills, preferably in English
2) strong reading comprehension, preferably in English
3) Basic grasp of math up through and including statistics
so while you don't need college/university you absolutely need 1-3. I picked up #1 in university because i went to a lousy, impoverished high school. I mostly taught myself #2 and #3. A new learning community focused on narrow skill acquisition won't help students acquire 1-3.
Investing in basic education will fix these problems, both investing in teachers and in pushing kids to just fucking study and take learning seriously.
so while you don't need college/university you absolutely need 1-3. I picked up #1 in university because i went to a lousy, impoverished high school. I mostly taught myself #2 and #3. A new learning community focused on narrow skill acquisition won't help students acquire 1-3.
Investing in basic education will fix these problems, both investing in teachers and in pushing kids to just fucking study and take learning seriously.
This article is the "High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries" http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html?_r=1... is much more relevant in my opinion.
best of luck w/ skillshare but please don't think it will teach calculus to people who can't add.
While mikekarnj has some interesting points about education and the obvious higher ed bubble, he is apparently unaware of education concept of "scaffolding" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding