I think the lack of breadth of knowledge and skills in vocational training is a good counterpoint.
That is probably one of the biggest problems with skipping the traditional college track.
Maybe there is a middle ground that would provide a useful general education at a reasonable price as well as practical up-to-date training with leading edge skillsets and knowledge.
Maybe one way to improve education would be to start by incorporating more individualized (probably largely computer-assisted) instruction starting with young children, so that people could advance both their broader as well as more specialized skills and knowledge at their own pace. That would help many who are held back at times by group instruction as well as people who need to slow down for certain subjects.
Maybe there is also room to tune curriculum to provide less depth in certain areas that aren't related to one's chosen specialty. For example, I only completed about two years of college, but I remember getting through what seemed to be quite an enormous amount of chemistry knowledge and exercises. I feel that I may not have understood some of the fundamentals quite as well as I wished and that I went into much more depth in some areas of chemistry than was necessary. I also think that I spent too much time memorizing facts and practicing techniques because the field and curriculum hadn't fully incorporated modern computer tools.
Another idea for changing educational institutions: institutionalize life-long learning. I feel that even though things change on the leading edge of science and technology so quickly that vocational training and apprenticeships are much more effective and realistic approaches to gaining the most practical skills and knowledge, there is so much information available in so many fields, and new information being generated every day, that it makes no sense for an education to be "completed" at any set point. And now that we have so many internet-based tools for education and communication there is no reason for it to stop when people leave the campus.
That is probably one of the biggest problems with skipping the traditional college track.
Maybe there is a middle ground that would provide a useful general education at a reasonable price as well as practical up-to-date training with leading edge skillsets and knowledge.
Maybe one way to improve education would be to start by incorporating more individualized (probably largely computer-assisted) instruction starting with young children, so that people could advance both their broader as well as more specialized skills and knowledge at their own pace. That would help many who are held back at times by group instruction as well as people who need to slow down for certain subjects.
Maybe there is also room to tune curriculum to provide less depth in certain areas that aren't related to one's chosen specialty. For example, I only completed about two years of college, but I remember getting through what seemed to be quite an enormous amount of chemistry knowledge and exercises. I feel that I may not have understood some of the fundamentals quite as well as I wished and that I went into much more depth in some areas of chemistry than was necessary. I also think that I spent too much time memorizing facts and practicing techniques because the field and curriculum hadn't fully incorporated modern computer tools.
Another idea for changing educational institutions: institutionalize life-long learning. I feel that even though things change on the leading edge of science and technology so quickly that vocational training and apprenticeships are much more effective and realistic approaches to gaining the most practical skills and knowledge, there is so much information available in so many fields, and new information being generated every day, that it makes no sense for an education to be "completed" at any set point. And now that we have so many internet-based tools for education and communication there is no reason for it to stop when people leave the campus.