Michael Karnjanaprakorn argues that the US education system is fundamentally broken and focuses too much on getting into college rather than learning. He discusses his own experiences in college where he memorized information to pass exams but did not truly learn. He also highlights growing issues with student loan debt and the fact that not everyone needs a college degree. Karnjanaprakorn proposes "a learning revolution" that moves beyond traditional education and focuses on lifelong learning through platforms like his own Skillshare that allow people to learn new skills from others in their community.
50. A topic that I found insanely boring
turned into the most
interesting topic of all time.
51. Because it was something I
passionately wanted to learn about.
52. The second story starts with Erica
Goldson at Coxsackle-Athens HS.
53. She gave a valedictorian speech to
her 2010 graduating class.
54.
55. And she said some remarkable
things against schooling, like...
56. “I excelled at every subject just for the
purpose of excelling, not learning.”
57. “We are so focused on a goal,
whether it be passing a test, or
graduating as first in the class.
However, in this way, we do not really
learn. We do whatever it takes to
achieve our original objective.”
58. “This is the dilemma I’ve faced with
the American education system.”
62. “9 out of 10 American high
school seniors say they want
to go to college.
Source: The World-Wide Expansion of
Higher Education in the Twentieth Century
64. Before the 19th century, there
were no systems of public
education.
65. In 1900, about half a million
people worldwide were
enrolled in colleges.
Source: UNESCO (2009)
66. “Just because a boy wants to go
to college is no reason we
should finance it.”
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1939
67. Today, there are 150 million
students today enrolled in
some kind of education
beyond high school.
Source: UNESCO (2009)
68. “We will provide the support
necessary for all young
Americans to complete college
and meet a new goal: By 2020,
America will once again have
the highest portion of college
graduates in the world.”
- President Obama
69. Why is there so much
importance on a new
institution like college?
71. “Over an adult's working life,
high school graduates can expect,
on average, to earn $1.2 million;
those with a bachelor's degree,
$2.1 million; and people with a
master's degree, $2.5 million.”
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
86. “17M Americans with college degrees
are doing jobs that require less than
the skill levels associated with a
bachelor’s degree.”
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
88. Richard Vedder from The Chronicle of
Higher Education debunks the myth
that a college education will result in
higher paying returns.
89. “The stats have always been skewed
for certain subgroups—particularly
relatively disadvantaged groups with
low education outcomes—are higher
than the average marginal returns to
education in the population as a
whole.”
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
90. Focused on a small subgroup of the
entire education ecosystem.
112. Students at For-Profit institutions
represent only 9% of all college
students, but receive roughly 25%
of all Federal Pell Grants and
loans, and are responsible for 44%
of all student loan defaults.
113. There is an inevitable
student loan crisis coming.
115. “Americans now owe more on
their student loans ($830B) than
their credit cards ($827B).”
Source: Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010
116. “Consumers who have questioned
whether it is worth spending $1,000 a
square foot for a home are now asking
whether it is worth spending $1,000 a
week to send their kids to college.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010
117. $300B of the $830B student loan debts
have been incurred in the last 4 years.
Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010
118. To put this in perspective,
the US economy is burdened with
$4 trillion of excess mortgage debt,
which is 30% of GDP.
119. At this rate, we’ll break
1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000)within
the next year for student loan debt.
120. And to make matters worse, the
“defaults on student loans are
skyrocketing amid a weak job market
and steadily rising tuition costs.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2009
121. “Default rates for federally
guaranteed student loans are
expected to reach 6.9% for 2007.
The highest rate since 1998.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2009
122. “College seniors who graduated
in 2009 carried an average of
$24,000 in student loan debt.”
Source: Project on Student Debt
123. “Unemployment for recent college
graduates climbed from 5.8% in 2008
to 8.7% in 2009 – the highest annual
rate on record for college graduates
aged 20 to 24.” ”
Source: Project on Student Debt
125. “N.Y.U. enrolled students without
asking many questions about
whether they could afford a
$50,000 annual tuition bill.”
Source: The New York Times, May 28, 2010
126. “Then the colleges introduced the
students to lenders who underwrote
big loans without any idea of what the
students might earn someday.”
Source: The New York Times, May 28, 2010
167. But, even bigger than the student loan
crisis is the “people crisis”
168. We are misleading our kids down the
wrong path & promising them the
wrong things in life.
169. At TED 2010, Sir Ken Robinson stated
“many people go through their whole
lives having no real sense of what their
talents may be, or if they have any to
speak of.”
170. “Education dislocates people from
their natural talents. And human
resources are often buried deep. You
have to go looking for them.”
171. “You have to create the
circumstances where they
show themselves.”
172. This will only happen if we bring
learning back into the US
education system.
173. And by debunking the myth that a
college degree leads to success.
174. The pinnacle of education should be
learning, not going to college.
175. We need to stop creating a cookie-
cutter experience around education.
176. We need a learning revolution inside
and outside of the classroom.
