AN UNDEGREE FROM UNCOLLEGE

    By Dennie Briggs on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 2:09pm |

    My enthusiasm—yes, and excitement—over the possibilities of the Thiel Fellowships (for youth under 18 years-old) continues. I previously cited how Nick Cammarata and David Merfield, are developing ways to revolutionize schooling by changing the ways that teachers teach—giving their lectures online in the homes of their students, and using class time for exposition and application.

     
    Another Fellow, Dale Stephens, has left the classroom altogether, organizing a self-directed higher education, UnCollege, a “social movement” promoting learning by doing—in life—rather than in school. “Our creativity, innovation and curiosity are schooled out of us,” he wrote recently in CNN. And so, he continues, “We must encourage young people to consider paths outside college. Imagine if we started our own companies, our own projects and our own organizations.” By self-directed he doesn’t mean learning in isolation: “UnCollege is about leveraging the resources of the world around you to create an educational environment—i.e. building relationships and learning with others.”
     
    As a starter-up, Dale Stephens has written a “manifesto,” established a blog, is building a constituency, and is writing a book which will detail his plans. He’s modest about his project: “I will have been successful if UnCollege does nothing else but provide a wake-up call to get students thinking about their education.”
     
    I suspect he will do much more than that. His entrepreneurial emphasis will attract many.  Suppose we had dozens of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerbergs, and Steve Jobs! And they, in turn had hundreds, thousands of associates, collaborating in “problem-solving in the real world!” Well, we may not need many more social networks or operating systems. but you get the point! As Dale Stephens says, “We who take our education outside and beyond the classroom understand how actions build a better world.”
     
    Follow along on his exciting Uncollege blog.
     
    Cross-posted from Dennie's blog.

     

    Comments

    All of this knowledge on the internet.

    Anything more than 80 or 90 years old can just about be had.

    Google is working on a tremendous projects including scanning the great museum arts:

    http://krista-mccracken.blogspot.com/2011/02/googles-art-project.html

    I recently wrote a blog on a project where you have free access to Court summaries at The Old Bailey dated from 1674 to 1913 with some actual transcripts included.

    http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/crime-punishment-11410

     

    You do not need tuition in order to read the Classics at all including Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles....

    You can find tremendous monographs on physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology....

    Oh you can spend an arm and a leg on professional journals of course.

    But there is a magic universe of bits out there.

    Let us make use of them.

    Great post!


    by Richard Day on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 3:52pm

    Interesting highlight.

    So, how does excitement over the idea of an "UnCollege" approach to education mesh with the traditional ridicule Democrats/liberals have leveled at the (often libertarian/conservative) folks who adopt and promote a very similar unschooling approach as a better alternative to public education for their children?

    Historically, the lib-aligned have been brutally insulting (to put it charitably) of this concept.


    by kgb999 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 6:52pm

    And also ... pet peeve of mine. Please stop listing Zukerberg as some sort or technologist in the same sentence with innovators like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. It's like saying Ezra Klein's BA and brief blogging career provide the same level of credibility as a Krugman or Stiglitz on topics of economic policy.


    by kgb999 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 7:12pm

    UnCollege might mean that some career options are not possible. The medical field, for example requires a structured process with testing and license requirements. This includes nursing, pharmacy, medical technology, etc. Reading the classics does not lead directly to employment in most cases.

    One of the major problems in the US is poor math and science skills. How does UnCollege correct that problem?


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 09/15/2011 - 8:20am

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