While listening to old episodes of the Akimbo podcast, I heard Seth Godin answer a question about education and specifically about the absurdly high cost of college education in the US. In his answer, Godin explained that colleges simply have to change in the future, and people (in particular the parents who are paying) are increasingly going to ask the question what college is for.
Godin thinks there are essentially four things a college is selling you when they’re selling a college education. These are:
Curation: The colleges pick and decide who gets to attend, and the fact that only a selected few are admitted supposedly has some value.
Cohort: Related to the first point, the colleges decide who you’re going to study and hang out with, effectively influencing who you’re going to be friends with 20 years from now. In other words, being at a college surrounded by others who influence you, instead of being at home in your basement studying alone, is worth something.
Courses: The meat of the deal. It’s interesting to note, since this is essential to the sales pitch, most of the courses even at top universities are becoming available online for anybody to absorb. Furthermore, especially in larger schools, the amount of time actually spent in a classroom in front of a brilliant tutor and receiving hands-on education is constantly going down.
Accreditation: There’s a scarce number of degrees from top universities and that scarcity implies some value in the marketplace.
Godin’s point is that at least three out of four things are such that we can replicate them ourselves, should we want to. Only the fourth one, accreditation, is hard to replicate, but also there one could argue that it’s highly overrated, except when it comes to specialized careers.
Accreditation is the one thing hard to replicate. Image by Felipe Gregate at Unsplash.
When looked upon like this, it’s easy to agree that the entire college system must change, especially in countries where attending a college causes long-term financial burdens to the students and their families.
I would, however, argue that Godin’s list is an oversimplification and you could easily think of additional benefits of a college education. For example, attending a college will hopefully result in at least some degree of personal development and growth, independence, and improved self-esteem, especially if you have to move away from home to another city or an another country for your studies.
Some colleges also have great sports teams, and especially in the US this seems to be a big thing.
Many universities are also investing in their entrepreneurship offerings, adding courses and opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience. On some campuses you can find incubators supporting student entrepreneurs by providing work space, mentorship, and services like legal counsel and accounting assistance.
Then again, none of these additional benefits are exclusive to colleges or universities, so we’re back to square one, where it’s probably safe to say that accreditation, which essentially is a “stamp of approval”, remains the most valuable thing a college education can offer you.