What is the Future of “Higher” Education in the West and Everywhere Else?

What is the future of “Higher” Education?

I suspect what is going to happen is that the entire concept of the University falls into disrepute. Already, many US companies are no longer requiring a college degree as they find that the candidates with degrees are no better than those without, and are going to require massive amounts of training re-education regardless of the degree.

As a parent I can admit to this: parents are the most regressive in their thoughts about their children. We are always fighting the last war. But as a parent I am very worried. Should I encourage my daughter to go to college, spend a vast amount of money on something that is at best useless and economically unproductive, and at worst an anti-social indoctrination program that could very well stifle rather than encourage her intellectual development??? Or should I encourage her to travel the world, explore her curiosity, develop her own skills, ideas and ambitions?

Also with modern technology, the concept of a centralized brick and mortar University may very well wither away. Why pay for all those expensive buildings and infrastructure when you can get your children better education online, and then get them certified through credible third party testing services? Employers simply do not trust a degree from a university anymore. Whatever degree your child gets, they are going to have to pass a third party test usually administered by the prospective employer. The scary thing will be how these testing programs warp and degrade the education system even further as students are drilled even more mercilessly on how to pass tests rather than learn concepts, facts, and develop problem solving skills.

I think we are going to be seeing the death of education as we understand it.

About fafc

The goal of the “Find a Free Country Project” is to research, explore and find a safe and secure free country outside the USA, that is not too large, has a relatively open immigration policy, has a friendly business climate, has a non-intrusive government committed to freedom, and then move to it.
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29 Responses to What is the Future of “Higher” Education in the West and Everywhere Else?

  1. Croatian Capitalist says:

    As much as I would like things to go back to how they once were (namely people being judged on their actual ability, rather than on whether or not they possess a piece of paper (think about it, if Nikola Tesla or Thomas Edison came back to life, they probably couldn’t legally be hired by any public scientific institute in the Western World)), I can’t see that happening in the remotely near future, because people have had the idea drilled into their heads for decades across the Western World that if they don’t have a college degree, that it then means that they are stupid/uneducated/low-class, etc., so that will be very hard to shake off, plus on of the reasons people go to university is to form connections with people who will work in their industry (and related ones) in the future (which you obviously can’t do (not to the same degree anyway) in an online program), so while I can see many of today’s “elite” universities going bust or becoming irrelevant and internet programs, certifications, etc. rising, I think that the brick and mortar universities will in general retain their preeminence for the foreseeable future.

    What I see happening is (major) companies setting up their own schools/universities (I think that Škoda and Intel are already doing this) and China (it will be one of the great ironies of history that American parents will send their children to formally communist China to escape communist indoctrination in the USA (education system)), (South) Korea and Japan replacing the USA and the UK as the preeminent education destinations for the World’s best and brightest.

    As for whether or not to send your children to college, that depends on the child’s character , interests, aptitude, etc., but in general without knowing the child in question I would recommend sending children to college (if they are so inclined), but just not to colleges in the USA, UK and other countries whose education systems are focused on indoctrinating the youth with leftist social idiocy.

    My reasons for that recommendation (amongst others) are: 1) As I mentioned above, people without college degrees are generally looked down upon by modern society. 2) People most often do form connections in college which prove useful in the future. 3) It generally takes 4 years to gain a bachelor’s degree in the USA, and another 2 years to gain’s a master’s degree, while in most of Europe it generally takes 3 years to gain a bachelor’s degree, and 1 year to get a masters’s degree, so your child could save a lot of time by studying in say Italy rather than the USA. 4) Apart from saving a lot of time, you would also save a lot of money, the costs of studying in most non-Anglo countries are nothing compares to what it costs to study in the USA. 5) Even if your child didn’t learn anything useful at the university itself, s/he would still learn to speak a foreign language fluently (which is a skill very few native-born Americans have) 6) Even if your child decided to return to the USA after finishing college elsewhere, studying abroad and speaking a foreign language fluently would differentiate him/her from the vast majority of the crowd. 7) The vast savings you would make on the difference between your child studying at let’s say Bocconi University in Milano instead of let’s say Harvard or Stanford could be given to your child to start his/her own business (regardless of whether it’s in the USA or Italy or somewhere else). 8) Unless you are a multi-millionaire, your education level does count a lot when first World countries are deciding whether to let you in as a permanent resident or not. 9) Many companies operate pay scales and promotions based on education level, for example an acquaintance of mine was the best performing manager in one of Croatia’s biggest private companies, but since he doesn’t have a college degree he couldn’t get neither a promotion nor a raise (eventually he left that company for a smaller company where he has a higher position and a bigger salary, but that is not the moral of this story). 10) Living in another country does make a person see the faults (and or the positives) in his original country better.

    • fafc says:

      I believe the University is facing the same fate as bookstores and brick-and-mortar shopping centers. They are facing competition and their response is to fight back using monopoly power and government intervention. So far that is working. But as you pointed out, corporations are growing tired of paying more and getting less. Hiring college graduates is not working. When corporations have to spend huge amounts of money to re-educate graduates from college, you have to think a college degree may be on the ropes.

      As for what parents and students should do, that is difficult. Sending your undecided child to college to open his or her mind and expand his or her intellect is a fool’s errand. You will be throwing away your child and the money. When the child knows what he or she wants to accomplish, then going to college may be useful for no other reason than getting your ticket punched so that you can get on the train.

  2. Croatian Capitalist says:

    I am sure that I could think of more reasons (such as for example that living in another country you could see a good business idea to bring back to the USA, or you could see that the new country is missing something positive that the USA has, and import it from the USA into that new country), but I think that what I wrote above is enough.

  3. Croatian Capitalist says:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4598160/University-warns-inappropriate-lavatory-habits.html

    That is what you get when you start accepting affirmative action thirdworlders into your universities en masse, the leftist loons running these universities are sending education standards down the drain (pun intended).

    • fafc says:

      Lowering standards and forcing everyone else, the victims, to accommodate those who cause these problems has always been a big part of the regressive ideal.

  4. Croatian Capitalist says:

    Another topic which I believe deserves it’s own “post” is the issue of robotics, it will (unless it is outlawed or restricted by law) have a giant impact on business, education, etc., it’s important even in regards to choosing an emigration destination, I mean look at the countries that have made a lot of progress over the last couple of decades like China or Vietnam for example, their main competitive advantage was cheap labour, but a robotic workforce in say Texas for the American market is cheaper long-term than a Human one in Vietnam for the American market, plus add to that that taxes for businesses have been lowered, the cheap-labor advantage of such countries goes right out the window.

  5. Croatian Capitalist says:

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/06/18/foreign-students-not-asked-prove-english-skills-visa-relaxation/

    What a joke Britain is becoming, even though to be honest, even before this change the English language standards weren’t high, I remember years ago, when I wanted to get a master’s degree in the UK (because I thought that it would make emigration easier (since I thought back then that I would eventually end up in Australia or some such country), there were videos of foreign students from all over the World giving their impressions of the British university they were studying in, and many of the students from the Indian subcontinent and Africa spoke broken English with heavy accents.

  6. Croatian Capitalist says:

    In any case, the Anglo countries definitely need major reforms in their tertiary education systems, the problem isn’t just that the students get indoctrinated with SJW garbage instead of being taught useful skills, but also that the tuition (and associated) fees are insane, for example I did the math the other day, and it would be cheaper to put 3 children through quality private elementary schools, high schools, and colleges in Zagreb (the capital city of Croatia), than it would be to send just 1 child to get a bachelors degree in economics from Harvard, plus they would save a year of their life (since in Croatia it generally takes 3 years to get a bachelors degree, as opposed to the 4 years it takes in the USA), wouldn’t have to put up with the SJW nonsense, could use the saved money to either start a business or travel the World, would live in a much healthier social environment, wouldn’t have to put up with “vibrant diversity”, etc., seeing what is happening in America, the UK, etc. has made me appreciate the Croatian educational system more.

    • fafc says:

      I actually think we may be entering into a time when your education credentials matter less than your actual education, which can be easily and quickly tested by all sorts of online testing programs. If I was hiring someone in today’s environment I would totally ignore the CV or Resume, and instead have an open testing program where certain skills and character traits were picked up. Then I would follow up on likely candidates with more testing and evaluation, none of which would involve college degree, key words in resumes, etc. The universities of the West have made themselves superfluous.

      • Croatian Capitalist says:

        I think that in countries like the USA and the UK that will increasingly become a must for businesses, I doubt that even the left-leaning rich people in the USA and the UK want to spend fortunes recruiting braindead snowflakes for their businesses, nevermind the normal business people.

        An alternative is to do what Škoda has done, that is for major companies to start their own universities: http://en.savs.cz

        • fafc says:

          In the software field it is already the case. A number of companies have decided to totally avoid recruiting from colleges, and instead have online tests that anyone can take. The testing is not even designed to measure your software programming knowledge or skills, but rather your IQ and other personality characteristics that the companies believe good programmers and employees share. If you qualify and pass through the human interview stage (to confirm it was really you taking the test and to week out flukes) they put you in a 6 month paid training program where you learn basic programming, undergo further evaluation. If you don’t pass the basic 6 month program they let you go. If you do pass then you start working up from there on real projects in real development teams. When I had my law office I found it easier to hire people with zero skills but who showed signs of learning quickly and were not anti-social or unpleasant (that was my job). Then I would give them 6 months to either shape up under my training program, or be fired. Most didn’t make it past 2 months. That included lawyers.

          • Croatian Capitalist says:

            That is a good solution, especially for the small and medium sized enterprises, who generally don’t have neither the time, nor the money to start their own universities or similar institutions, but I think what Škoda is doing is better for large companies, actually I think it is a win for everyone, the companies know best what kinds of skills they need, so those skills will get taught to the students at the company’s university, the students themselves will actually get taught useful skills, get a degree and have a guaranteed and well-paying job at the company, the professors will get to to what professors should do, the parents will spend only a small fraction of what they do now on tuition, and society will get productive taxpayers, instead of having to pay for the welfare cheques of people with useless degrees.

          • fafc says:

            Interesting. Do you have any good links about that Skoda program? I never heard of it.

  7. fafc says:

    There are other, and sadly, better school than Harvard. And they are cheaper.

    • Croatian Capitalist says:

      Out of all of the even remotely prestigious American universities whose tuition fees I looked at, only Brigham Young University has tuition fees which I would call sane, everyone else (Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, etc.) I looked at has tuition fees which add-up to between 100000 and 200000 USD for the 4 years it takes to get a bachelors degree, and this doesn’t even take into account the living expenses, leisure expanses, the plane tickets for those going home for the holidays, etc., so even if those universities weren’t full of SJW garbage, I would still regard those prices as insane, there are for example quality private and internationally recognized/accredited business schools here in Croatia whose tuition fees for the entire program barely pass 10000 USD (and some of the programs cost even less than 10000 USD, depending exactly on which business school and bachelors degree program we are talking about), thus I think that even if a person here could afford to send their children to the Ivy League (or similar) universities, that it would be a much better idea for them to get a quality bachelor’s degree locally, and then the children having the 200000+ saved USD to spend on buying/building a house/apartment for themselves, and/or starting a business, and/or for investing in stocks, etc., paying 200000 USD extra per child for the child to suffer SJW indoctrination in America instead of learning useful skills, just so the child could say “I went to Harvard/Yale/Stanford!” does not really seem like a good deal to me.

      • fafc says:

        Yes, I took my daughter to visit Boston during the summer of 2016 and we visited Harvard. I hadn’t been back since 1987. It was not only covered in shameful SJW propaganda of all kinds, but it was dirty and poorly maintained. The area surrounding Harvard had turned into a hyper-consumer shopping zone, which is sort of funny. It used to be that Harvard was the nice looking place planted in the middle of a very blue collar neighborhood with cheap stores, diners, etc. On campus everything was ratty, broken, etc. Boston College on the other hand was a much more encouraging place, at least to look at. From what I can see of Harvard and Harvard grads, I don’t think it is worth a penny to get a degree there unless it is just one of those family things you have to do because you one of the Boston Brahmans. The degree itself provides no benefit whatsoever since you already are going to take over daddy’s business, but it is just the right thing to do.

  8. Croatian Capitalist says:

    This is the website of Škoda’s University (which has existed since the year 2000): http://en.savs.cz

    This is it’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Škoda_Auto_University

    If you meant some third party review, I haven’t come across such an article.

    In addition to having it’s own university, Škoda has also had it’s own vocational training centar since the 1920’s, so the company can and does train both it’s white-collar and it’s blue-collar workers.

    In any case, Škoda’s approach is the one I would take if I was the owner of some large company, especially if it was located in the USA or UK.

  9. Croatian Capitalist says:

    This is the website of Škoda’s University (which has existed since the year 2000): http://en.savs.cz

    If you meant some third party review, I haven’t come across such an article.

    In addition to having it’s own university, Škoda has also had it’s own vocational training centar since the 1920’s, so the company can and does train both it’s white-collar and it’s blue-collar workers.

    In any case, Škoda’s approach is the one I would take if I was the owner of some large company, especially if it was located in the USA or UK.

  10. Croatian Capitalist says:
  11. fafc says:

    American colleges making themselves utterly superfluous:

    CEO of IBM Says Hiring Based on Skills Instead of College Degrees is Vital for the Future of Tech

    https://gizmodo.com/ceo-of-ibm-says-hiring-based-on-skills-instead-of-colle-1831977815

  12. Croatian Capitalist says:

    I found another company with it’s own university: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6625987/Brexit-supporting-billionaire-James-Dyson-says-no-hypocrite.html

    “We have built from scratch the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, a university where undergraduates are paid.”

    • fafc says:

      A pity that the article had to be slanted at slamming Dyson for moving HQ to Singapore. He was probably going to do that anyway regardless of Brexit. You are right, the important story is the creation of yet another company university to replace the failing education system of the West.

      • Croatian Capitalist says:

        Yes, I focused on that part, but to comment on the rest of article, I see nothing wrong with moving the company headquarters to Singapore, Singapore is way more business friendly than the UK, it is a way safer country, it has a superior education system to that of the UK, it is closer to their factories and to the majority of their customers, etc., plus Brexit is being handled horribly by the British government and there is hardly any guarantee that an actual Brexit will happen (and even if it did happen, there is a strong chance that the insane leftist Labour party will get into power soon), so Dyson made the right call.

        And yes, the article was slanted, but I have long since stopped expecting professionalism from modern “journalists”.

        • fafc says:

          All too true.

          • Croatian Capitalist says:

            I increasingly think that I will eventually join Dyson in Singapore or somewhere else in the Far East, since it is becoming obvious to me that is where the future of civilization is, in Europe I am only really optimistic about Hungary (the more I read about Poland, the more I think that they will buckle), but if the rest of Europe turns into a “swamp”, what hope will there be for Hungary? At best it might turn turn into an European version of Israel, but I am not sure how realistic even that option is.

  13. Croatian Capitalist says:

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/06/delingpole-vote-corbyn-get-venezuela-lefts-communist-masterplan-britain/

    The British are lucky that Dyson is keeping anything at all in the UK, if I were in his place, I would move everything to Asia and let the British stew in their own idiocy.

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