Having decided to go back to university for a second master’s degree in a completely different field, I have experienced how terrible our education system is. Our educational system is frankly a joke and there’s so much room for improvement.
Prior to starting my second Master’s degree, I used common online resources to learn from (such as udemy, youtube, skillshare, etc). I never paid more than $20 for a pre recorded course and some were free. For my university classes, I paid hundreds per credit and roughly 80% of the professors were frankly TERRIBLE. I have attended 3 different universities, some of the best, they’re still bad.
I can honestly say, that I have gotten a much higher quality education from these online courses than university classes I paid thousands for. The only reason to attend university now instead of just paying $17 for a course is for the diploma.
This is my proposal to completely revamp our educational system:
The government will be in charge of approving websites that host courses from certified teachers/professors. Allowing private businesses to be in charge for creating the websites will lead to better run and cost effective websites. These websites will essentially be universities/school. The number of them should be small and well known.
Students may choose whatever course and professor they desire and professors may choose how much to charge. This will lead to only the best courses gaining traction and the best professors making millions, while bad teachers receive little to no attention. Having better teachers leads to a better education. That’s part 1.
Part 2 is that the government will be in charge of all tests and certifications. Universities will no longer have a monopoly on diplomas. These tests must be difficult. We have been rewarding incompetence for far too long. No more of these terrible tests that do nothing for the students. A multiple choice test is a terrible measurement of one’s knowledge. The majority of exams should be open ended. They can be graded using AI. The average grade should be a C, no more hyperinflating grades. A 65 should be passing. Most students should struggle to pass to make sure they actually learn what they’re supposed to.
No child left behind was an awful policy that only allowed ignorant students to continue their education and graduate with barely a basic understanding of simple arithmetic.
Part 3 deals with pre university education. Schools now are nothing more than daycare. They force kids to sit in class for 8-9hrs a day. This is unnecessary. Students are taught at the speed of the slowest student. This hurts all students. Intelligent students have their education unfairly stunted and slow students have a difficult time keeping up and usually get pushed forward when they shouldn’t have been.
We need to create a standard curriculum. There will no longer be grades (like 2nd, 3rd etc grade), we will instead have required courses. The students will be able to choose what video course they like best for geometry for example and they may complete it at their own pace. This benefits all students. Smart kids will be able to blitz a GED and then focus on whatever field they want. Having young teens with GEDs will become fairly normal. Teenagers will also have more time and can start working and saving money sooner and easier. This will also help alleviate the loss of jobs due to mass deportation.
As far as tutoring, AI is undoubtedly superior and will only continue to improve.
Considering schools are designed to be daycares, the curriculum I propose will only require students to study 2-3hrs a day while receiving a better education. There is a glaring issue with this proposal, which is kids need socialization. We can create recreational “schools”. These schools will have multiple clubs, from educational to athletic and everything in between. Since students will have more time, they will be able to attend these private institutions for socializing and working with groups.
Similarly, private businesses can pop up that offer hands on training as required for some careers.
This proposal will save taxpayers tens of billions a year, if not hundreds. With this money saved we can give parents massive tax cuts per child. This will allow one or both parents to work much less and spend more time investing in their kids. We can make stay at home moms/dads the norm again. The parent will then be able to oversee her/his kid while they’re doing their online courses.
The parents will also have much better control of what their children learn. If they’re religious, they may choose a more religious course. If they’re liberal, they may choose a teacher with those ideologies. No more debating what belongs in the class, the parents and students will have full control.
I also propose that less tax cuts are given to single parent homes. This will incentivize parents to stay together and also not abuse the system for more money. This is how we can protect the future generation and give them the best shot at success.
Final thoughts:
I understand that this proposal has many flaws, but I hope this provides some ideas that may be useful or a jumping off point for new ones.
Our education system is broken. We spend so much per child and they receive subpar education. Universities are no longer in the business of teaching, instead they are in the business of research and forcing researchers who do not wish to teach, to teach. University/college students are nothing more than cash cows for greedy universities to fund their research.
Multiple generations have now been crippled by the greed of our education system and government. This must end! My medical student books cost more than what retired doctors paid for an entire year of medical school. This is absurd and completely unacceptable!