I agree — it’s not that online-learning has to be intrinsically, objectively of lower quality than traditional college education (indeed, some online-first courses I took for fun now offered on Coursera were better than I remember some of my in-person courses), but to think that college is only courses misses the point: it’s the opportunity to grow not just academically, but, just as important, socially and independently — at most schools, you’re meeting with peers from all over the world (or at least from outside your hometown), have direct interactions with professors renowned in their field who are (in my experience) eager to personally introduce you to opportunities you wouldn’t know about from searching the internet, and access to a vast collection of resources much more restricted to the public. To say college is just getting a degree is to miss out on all of the non-purely academic opportunities colleges offer.
But aside from all of that — it’s also where many (not all) young adults go after high school to figure out who they are, who they want their friends to be, and what they want to do, as for most of them it’s their first taste of living as their own fully independent person. Something has to fill that vacuum.
I completely agree. I'm not even sure what that would look like. The article implies moving to a completely online experience, but how does that actually work? A student graduates high school and then what? Stays home for another 4 years, except now they are at home the entire day attending lecture and doing home work at night? How and where do you meet friends or dates? Even as an introvert that complete lack of socializing would be difficult. It's basically what people who worked from home pre-COVID would talk about. Needing to put extra effort to not be isolated, and have breaks from being in the same spot the whole day.
And I think there would be many types of classes that would suffer from being delivered online. I think most of us here are thinking in STEM terms, but what about others? The article mentions remote acting classes. Seriously? It's one thing to 'get by' with workarounds, but I'd imagine being in the same place as other people is an important part of acting. There's no way you can replace in-person teaching for instruments. And discussion heavy classes, would be a drag. Even a 10 person meeting at work is awkward with all the network glitches and delays etc.
Sure it might and does work for some, but I think a totally online experience would be a definite downgrade for most.
I've been to college and by far, the most valuable thing i got a little piece of paper that says I'm cool: the bachelors degree in computer science, and roughly 10% of what I learned is useful. nothing else mattered, at all.
But aside from all of that — it’s also where many (not all) young adults go after high school to figure out who they are, who they want their friends to be, and what they want to do, as for most of them it’s their first taste of living as their own fully independent person. Something has to fill that vacuum.