Since education, in this land of opportunity, is something that is 'never too late' to accomplish, there are many people who attend community college after they raise children, are of an older generation, et cetera. I agree that it's never too late to chase your dreams, especially education. It's one of those 'products' that gets better with age. Education that you receive in the present, with the most up-to-date information, is better than information that students received decades ago. At least, by my standards, this is what I expect out of education. So more recently, online degrees or attending classes over the internet, has become a growing trend. Some people label this type of schooling as informal and kind of a waste of money, because they're not really accredited institutions. That is true in the sense that most learning over the internet does not have the same reputation as an upstanding, brand-name university. But I thought about it and the majority of people don't come from brand-name schools, so we do not get to enjoy that brand name label anyway. Another thing that made me more interested in online classes was when I thought back to my undergrad years and how I actually studied. I used a lot of resources, mostly from lectures & notes posted by my professor over the school's intranet. Whatever information I wanted, but did not have immediate access to, I would just search it up on the internet. If I still had trouble grasping a concept, I would go to the professor or teaching assistant's office hours and ask more specific questions.
That made me realize that most of our information comes from the internet. It's getting to the point where the world wide web is today's first and probably, best resource when it comes to acquiring information. Yes, I attended classes in person (most of the time), but when I studied, I would first refer back to notes I took in class, go over the homework, and so on. As far as using the actual textbooks, it was more of a last resort. So that makes me wonder how different can it be to actually physically attend a university as opposed to obtaining education via an online institution, when considering most of our information comes from the internet anyway? Practically anyone who can afford a college education most definitely can afford an internet connection. Furthermore, many upstanding institutions are creating online degrees, like Notre Dame and Northwestern, I believe. I read an article about these name brand schools who produce online degrees and I tried to find it again, but sadly I could not. More pros about online schooling: this concept completely strips away the confines of a traditional classroom, with blackboard, seats, blah blah. You don't have to worry about classes filling up, as long as the servers allow enough people to sign into a podcast or live lecture, you get into the class. So you can chill out in your pajamas, eat a snack, while engaging in education. If there's bad rain or other less than wonderful types of weather, you don't have to bear it, because you are learning in the comfort of your own home. This is just what people need if they need to raise a family, work during the day, and genuinely want to pursue education.
Now I also have cons, of course. First of all, there's no face time with your professor and it is very difficult to engage with your classmates or peers. These online classes are another result of the digital revolution putting us into our wifi bubbles, sans physical human interaction. Ito also makes us more dependent on our internet connections. Without it, we're all so lost, like unable to explore, unable to make decisions, unable to be productive, or a herd of lost sheep, or deer in the headlights. I think I'm probably not the only person who feels this way. I mean, think about how your office would feel if the internet connection went out. Anyways, I'm not against our love/love relationship with the internet. My point is that without the internet connection, there is no online education. Also, some people feel that when they are at home, they feel inclined to make themselves too comfortable, and are then too distracted to actually force themselves to learn. Another thing about less of an upstanding reputation with online degrees, some of them are definitely not professional institutions for people to LEARN. They run their programs like a business, and that is essentially what it is, They are out to get money and spam our inboxes with junk mail. When I see spam letters like this, my brief glance already informs me that their idea of education is to rush an unsuspecting soon-to-be "student" into paying lots of fees and whatnot before they even know what the curriculum is going to be like.
Now as wonderful as the internet is (people can even become ordained as legitimate ministers over the internet), just imagine what kind of degrees you can legitimately learn over the internet. The type where it is a lot of text, and images supplement the learning, right? Well, of course. The more hands on type of education you cannot get over the internet. Like, being a mechanic, or a heart surgeon. You need to learn and see, and try to know if you CAN do these things and if you CAN be good at it. Even if a degree requires a lot of reading and not a lot of hands-on interaction, some things are better learnt in person. Can you imagine being in an unsavory lawsuit and hiring a lawyer who obtained his degree online? It's a little strange.
Now I've blabbered on long enough. I've even bored myself. I wonder how bored I will be reading this when I'm old.
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