Free Education in the Digital Era: A Crazy Idea?
Many years ago in many countries education was socially more affordable than today. The families were larger and not all children got the opportunity to further study at a university level but up until high school, it was affordable for parents to send their children to school.
Today, even though families have become smaller it has become even more difficult to achieve a higher education. Many countries have public schools up until high school and law for mandatory learning up until high school. There are just a few countries that have good public universities. Even universities that offer scholarships are expensive for the families to afford clothing and other required items. What would it be like if it was for free?
EDUCATION AS A BUSINESS
Unfortunately, education has become a business instead of remaining a social right. Especially for those who later change careers. This happens to those of us who realize we have more potential than we thought. Changing careers is expensive. It’s no joke. There are many courses offered at extremely high prices. Once you compare the content to what available online you see that you are basically paying for the location of the course, which is in most cases a hotel conference room or somewhere fancy. Why? I don’t know. It is easier to give courses at universities and training locations, why choose the most expensive location? Because that is the most profitable choice. You don’t know how much they get to charge for rent. Maybe they get it for free or at a discount. Why would you pay for something you can get for free and enrich a selective group of people? Education should not be a business.
EDUCATION AS A RIGHT
In my opinion, especially in the era of new technologies, education should be a right, it should be available and affordable for all those who want to learn. The traditional education hasn’t been working. It indoctrinates and puts you in a box, making you believe that the business side of your brain is more important than your creative side. That is not true.
Each student is different and has a different style of learning. Traditional education ignores this and labels the student as inadequate or troublesome, many of which end up in detention and follow a darker path. Fortunately, there are platforms online that offer many forms of learning methods. Platforms like edX and Udemy offer online courses at affordable prices. Teachers can even use the material at school and learn about the different approaches of education.
One of the benefits of this digital era is that it opens your eyes to the different possibilities you have to build your career. What traditional education doesn’t promote is entrepreneurship. It rather teaches you to conform to a desk and do the same work day in and day out. Today youngsters are more exposed to entrepreneurship, most information is available online, which inspires them to create their own business. In the long run, they will have a more valuable contribution to society by creating more jobs and help stimulate the economy by paying taxes.
So you see free education is not a crazy idea. It’s a great idea! Knowledge is power. Rather than follow the crowd you gather the facts, think on your own and form your own conclusion. Don’t you agree?
