Yes. You, your friends, myself and I'd guess pretty much anybody reading HN regularly are if not pejoratively 'weirdos' at the very least outside of the mainstream US college experience.
The far side of things is the kind of college life portrayed in 'In the Basement of the Ivory Tower' [1], or 'College, Inc' [2] where it has gone far beyond just 'not having fun' and more into full fledged panic mode.
Innovation wise, I think the kind of degrees and approach (flat fee all you can learn in a semester) of Western Governors University [3] is really interesting. It seems very much like a Khan's Academy style higher education offering.
Comments
Yes. You, your friends, myself and I'd guess pretty much anybody reading HN regularly are if not pejoratively 'weirdos' at the very least outside of the mainstream US college experience.
The far side of things is the kind of college life portrayed in 'In the Basement of the Ivory Tower' [1], or 'College, Inc' [2] where it has gone far beyond just 'not having fun' and more into full fledged panic mode.
Innovation wise, I think the kind of degrees and approach (flat fee all you can learn in a semester) of Western Governors University [3] is really interesting. It seems very much like a Khan's Academy style higher education offering.
1 - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/06/in-the-b...
2 - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/
3 - http://www.wgu.edu/