Social Justice: Value of Education

College, professional, and graduate schools currently cost more than ever. The cost of higher education has surged more than 538% since 1985 while the consumer price index has increased by  121%. Higher education is 4.5 times as expensive today as it was 30 years ago. There are people today who went into debt for higher education who are having their social security retirement checks garnished for student loan repayment. Among 22-year-old degree holders who found jobs in the past three years, more than half were in roles not requiring a college diploma, The young and educated are settling for jobs they wouldn’t have accepted a decade ago,

Going to a four year school is supposed to be the foundation from which you create a future, not the transaction that crushes hopes and places you in debt that few can pay off in 10 years. What has been missing in the past was a way to get feedback or collaborate on ideas while studying on-line. Successful students of today are people who explore many things, tinkerers and fixers who see solutions to problems that other people do not see. Among the leaders in “free education “ is Khan Academy which has a unique teaching style with quality content and a wide breadth of topics; providing bite-sized, easily-understood lessons, and providing the positive feedback that keeps the student coming back .

Students are turning to “self-study” programs blossoming on-line. Some are taking the bare minimum number of classes required by a “big name” university, at the cheapest price, then take educational and enrichment courses through free non-degree online courses .  Such students are choosing to build their own educational curricula.