Richard A. Blade
THE CRISIS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Higher education is in trouble today. Academic standards are so low that prerequisite courses, grade averages, and college degrees cannot be used as reasonable indicators of a student's knowledge or skills. Students attend classes in order to "earn" credits and ultimately degrees rather than to learn. Tuition and fees are outrageously high, and have increased far beyond the cost of living in recent years with no visible payoff to the average student. Professors at major universities put a low priority on teaching because their job security and pay depend little on that aspect of their jobs. Students increasingly turn to lesser institutions to obtain their credentials because of the ease and speed in getting through a program instead of receiving a better education. Industry increasingly turns to in-house instruction rather than rely upon a college education to provide necessary skills. Legislatures demand more "productivity" of the tax supported universities, but while they look at productivity in terms of educating students, the universities think of productivity more in terms of research and community service. Some nationally renown educators predict a collapse of the current system in the next couple of decades. While there are certainly individuals and institutions attempting to correct the system, it is unlikely that the current system of private and public college and universities is capable of making the necessary adjustments.
TWO REVOLUTIONS
I believe that the necessary changes to higher education can be made by guiding the course of two revolutions currently underway:
- The shift in funding of post-secondary instruction from taxpayers, students, and parents to major employers.
- The shift in classroom instruction and traditional residence-based degree programs to on-line instruction and external degree programs.
In the early 1980s the funding by major employers on in-house instruction surpassed the spending on all traditional public and private college and universities. Today it is estimated that major employers spend three times that of all traditional private and public colleges and universities. That does not include the wages for the time the employees spend on the in-house instruction. If that were included, the factor might double. Moreover, many major employers have started their own in-house universities, and recently a number of the most successful universities have been built specifically to serve the needs of employed persons.
The growth of external degree programs and home instruction has been steady over the last two decades, but the last 2-3 years the widespread use of the Internet has made the growth explosive. In the next few years there is no doubt that "virtual universities", i.e. universities that have no physical campuses for students to attend, will rapidly become the largest academic institutions in the nation. There will also be a fierce competition for students to enroll in various "distance education" programs offered by almost every college and university, though most of those programs will be merely a different delivery medium for traditional courses and degree programs.
WHAT IS NEEDED
While a plethora of higher education institutions are focusing on the new communications technologies to deliver distance education, they have failed to look at what is needed to solve the problems outlined above. They still emphasize credentials and traditional college degrees, delivered to "classes" of students who do homework and take exams on a synchronized basis and receive a grade representing a level of performance in each class relative to the other students. This is not going to take care of the plummeting standards or the emphasis on credentials rather than education. It is not even likely to substantially decrease the costs.
What is needed is a paradigm shift away from a single concentrated period of time devoted to education and toward a concept of LIFELONG LEARNING. Not just lifelong learning in the traditional sense of continuing education or adult education, but ultimately a complete replacement of the four year degree by a continuous education throughout one's life. While credentials would still serve a role in this new lifelong education, the emphasis would be on a continuous development of the career, self, quality of life, and contribution to the betterment of Society over the entire course of one's life.
While individual needs would differ, I imagine an average student completing high school would pursue education in the following way: Initially there would be the need for a career that provides for economic needs and personal sense of accomplishment. Thus I imagine that a typical student would get a job, and with the encouragement of the employer, participate in courses designed to promote and enhance that job. Then as the career becomes well developed, the student realizes that further education can enhance the quality of life as well. Thus that student might shift emphasis from career-oriented education toward something like arts and humanities. The main difference in attitude in this kind of education is that there is always an incentive to learn.
THE ROLE OF EMPLOYERS
The key to making the shift of paradigm that I suggest above is in getting away from the college degree as a necessary credential. Employers might hire students right out of high school (or even before!) and become actively involved in the education of their employees. Employees need to be rewarded when their education leads to observable improvement in their productivity, relations with others, and general value to the organization. While additional pay is one form of reward, more emphasis needs to be placed on recognition and careful implanting of a system of intrinsic rewards associated with self esteem and self worth. The role of the employer cannot be overemphasized. The current system can ONLY be changed with widespread cooperation on the part of employers.
TENETS OF A FUTURE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION
To accomplish the shift in paradigm I propose a cooperative system of employers, educational content providers, providers of new communications technologies, and educational institutions in the form of virtual universities. I propose the following broad principles for the system:
- Extensive utilization of distance learning technologies to deliver education to employees in the workplace. Currently a delivery of educational materials via the Internet, cable TV, and other forms of electronic delivery, such as CD-ROM and videotape. In the future DVD, digital HDTV, videoconferencing, and virtual reality technologies will be added to the list.
- Lifelong learning, ultimately funded primarily by employers, as an alternative to the current emphasis on four-year degree programs. Not just continuing or adult education in the traditional sense, but a whole new system of education that provides for continuously upgraded learning over a lifetime, including credentials that replace current college degrees.
- Competency based testing for the completion of all coursework. Elimination of the current system of courses of fixed duration with grade awarded on the basis of performance. Instead, each student continues in a course until an acceptable level of achievement has been demonstrated. Grades, representing different levels of mastery, may or may not be available by contract.
- A process of continual improvement. Establishing a bottom-up approach to produce an ever-improving educational product so that there is a sensitivity and responsiveness to the purchasers (employers) and consumers (students) of that product. The methods of establishing such a process are well established and go under various names, the most popular and broadly accepted of which go under the name "TQ" or "total quality".
IMPLEMENTATION
A professional organization with members from three sectors:
- academic institutions
- distance education support industry
- employers
needs to be established in order to promote the transition from the current system of higher education to one embedding the principles I have outlined above. Based on the ideas and cooperation of educational visionaries, that organization should study, widely publicize, and promote changes based upon voluntary cooperation rather than political or formal regulation. I suggest that the primary activities of the organization be
- Publish and widely distribute studies and innovative ideas, both in hard copy and on CDROM.
- Hold both traditional and online conferences where leaders of the various sectors can directly interact and exchange ideas with one another.
- Cooperate with other groups and organizations in obtaining grants, preparing instructional materials, and broadly publicizing any efforts and innovations that promote the long term changes sought.