There seems to be a growing opinion that university is a waste, some even claiming that it might be the next bubble to burst. While any institution should be critisized, the arguments against higher education seem to have missed what it’s all about. The university is and should only be a forum and a filter.
University is not hard, not unless you study something you don’t like. The only people I have met that fail subjects do so because they don’t spend the time required. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can obtain a diploma if they want to. And that’s exactly what I mean by filter – university filters out the ones that have some ambition and some will to put in some effort.
The one thing that no other medium can offer, but a university can – and should – is a forum. While I could self-teach me an equivalent amount of knowledge to my education through Wikipedia, the Internet could never offer me the chance to meet like-minded and ambitious students and competent professors. It’s the whole networking-thing that I love the most. It’s invaluable, and utterly difficult to achieve in any other way.
Some of the upcoming rockstar industrialists go to the same school as me. Period.
But a good forum is very difficult to achieve. It’s probably more of a utopia than a present fact. The main reason, I believe, is professors that are damn good at their subject but lack anything that can be related to pedagogy. Also Chalmers’ (incredibly stupid) policy of hiring professors with an impressive academic curriculum shuts out the people with extensive industry experience, with real, tangible and valuable knowledge. I believe that more of the industry perspective would add much quality and balance to education. Bottom line is, let passionate people in and blackboard-staring researchers out. Engage in debates and discussion rather than PowerPoint slides, and a fantastic forum will occur.
If there’s a bubble to burst, it better create action against the confined, nose-in-the-book culture in favour of a forum for people who by any means possible want to push development forward. Academics were born to serve the industry, and it should remain there.
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July 22nd, 2009
by Ehsan
As good write up as usual. I totally agree with you dear brother. :)
December 27th, 2009
by Emanuel's blog » Making the most of university
[...] is not nearly as much about knowledge as it is about networking, as I wrote about in What is the purpose of university? All the knowledge can be found in books and on Wikipedia, which are equally accessible for [...]