Alan Lawhon
lawhonac at hiwaay.net
Sat Jan 28 19:22:02 CST 2012
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/01/27/online-courses-universities
Colleges and universities have pretty much done this to themselves. By not
easily allowing (or accepting) transfer of credit hours from one institution
to another, most colleges and universities have tended to operate as if they
were a monopoly where their "customers" (i.e. students) have few options and
little control. It's been nearly 30 years since I was in college, but I
always thought the price of college textbooks was nothing but a racket -
legalized extortion and price fixing. This is but one example of how the
"education industry" behaves like a monopoly. There is (or has been) little
concern over constantly rising prices - until now. (President Obama seemed
to put higher education "on notice" the other day, but I'm not convinced
he's really serious about it - or merely electioneering.)
Welcome to the future, higher education. This is what is going to happen to
every industry where the cost of the "product" gets out of kilter. I've
specifically chosen the option of self-education (and self study) in an
effort to get certified in Microsoft SQL Server. The high cost of going
back to school was a primary determinant in that decision. If one of these
low cost (or free) online universities offered a curriculum in database
management or database design, I would be very interested in such a program
- especially if potential employers indicated a willingness to accept such a
credential.
Alan C. Lawhon