How many jobs really require college?
I think the author of this post is making the same mistake that a lot of other people (particularly smart folks) make whenever they are thinking about the ills of modern education system and what can be done to improve it. Like Peter Thiel and others, I don't think they understand how and why students are failing in classrooms today.<p>Take for example the author's suggestions on how school systems can be improved:<p><i>Create a set of free, online high school and college degree programs that any American could enroll in, and pursue at their own pace.</i><p>Can you really expect high school students to perform well in online classes? The most elite companies in the valley have correctly found out that remote doesn't work (in most cases)... and yet we're going to do remote with our students? I took online classes when I went back to complete college at an older age... it was the worst mistake of my life. As a human, I needed the social imposition of a disappointed teacher telling me that I performed poorly on my test, I needed the camaraderie of students with whom I could study somewhere. Online classes, <i>especially</i> at high school stage are very bad (perhaps with the exception of "gifted" students who probably would benefit from being in a fast-tracked line).<p><i>At age 13, give everyone a $100k education voucher.</i><p>You're giving too much credit to students, they don't know what is best for them. This $100k will be exploited in some way by profit-seeking companies before you have a second to glance back at the money.<p><i>Legalize and normalize apprenticeship contracts.</i><p>I agree with this.