Comment: Re:Little to Learn About Mass Education from Outli (Score 1) 118
This brings up a question I've been pondering... What's wrong with lazy, complacent and dull-minded people to just be let to their own devices a bit? In a MOOC framework, they'd have easy, painless access to all require course material, including exercises and a discussion forum when they need help. If they can't be bothered to do it, then sucks to be them.
I'm being serious here: we're wasting valuable resources trying to keep mediocre people from entirely failing, only for them to get mediocre grades that barely give them their diploma so that they can go on to be mediocre employees with brains so numbed and dull that they're basically automata. If we let them fail (yes, letting people fail, the horror!) early on, it could act as a wake up call. I've rarely seen people without any interest in life; usually if they find school boring it's in large part because they're not at the right place. Instead of putting them on life support, letting them fail could make them realize they need to change career paths, and it'd still be early enough for them to do so without significant damage.
The trend right now is that students, especially young ones, shouldn't be allowed to fail. That sets a dangerous precedent, for once you're out of the school system (I consider graduate degrees to be "outside the school system") you're very much allowed to fail and discarded without second thought if you do. It's setting out an entire generation to unrealistic and frankly absurd standards that you can do jack shit and still make it. That sometimes happens, but it's not the norm.
I'm being serious here: we're wasting valuable resources trying to keep mediocre people from entirely failing, only for them to get mediocre grades that barely give them their diploma so that they can go on to be mediocre employees with brains so numbed and dull that they're basically automata. If we let them fail (yes, letting people fail, the horror!) early on, it could act as a wake up call. I've rarely seen people without any interest in life; usually if they find school boring it's in large part because they're not at the right place. Instead of putting them on life support, letting them fail could make them realize they need to change career paths, and it'd still be early enough for them to do so without significant damage.
The trend right now is that students, especially young ones, shouldn't be allowed to fail. That sets a dangerous precedent, for once you're out of the school system (I consider graduate degrees to be "outside the school system") you're very much allowed to fail and discarded without second thought if you do. It's setting out an entire generation to unrealistic and frankly absurd standards that you can do jack shit and still make it. That sometimes happens, but it's not the norm.