I think because of your educated background you vastly overestimate the number of people that are taught algebra well in college. Even the people that did take real algebra sometimes don't cover all the content necessary for a strong base.
You also overestimate the amount of socratic questioning that goes in college, even at the top ones. Socratic questioning doesn't exist around 80% of the engineering classes at my school (UIUC), and we're ranked 1-5 in basically every engineering field. The advanced math here is pretty much the same, although I think our math department is only around average. The point being, the lack of socratic questioning in the classroom isn't a disqualifier for a beneficial education. Sometimes just presenting the material and giving someone a problem set is the right thing to do. The benefits from socratic questioning can be achieved elsewhere. Hacking on an open source project, posting in online forums, or speaking with professors, for example.
All of that being said, I'm not convinced of the benefits of this online system. The only way I could see it being even remotely useful is if most participants transfer to a public institution of decent caliber after taking basic general education classes.
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I think because of your educated background you vastly overestimate the number of people that are taught algebra well in college. Even the people that did take real algebra sometimes don't cover all the content necessary for a strong base.
You also overestimate the amount of socratic questioning that goes in college, even at the top ones. Socratic questioning doesn't exist around 80% of the engineering classes at my school (UIUC), and we're ranked 1-5 in basically every engineering field. The advanced math here is pretty much the same, although I think our math department is only around average. The point being, the lack of socratic questioning in the classroom isn't a disqualifier for a beneficial education. Sometimes just presenting the material and giving someone a problem set is the right thing to do. The benefits from socratic questioning can be achieved elsewhere. Hacking on an open source project, posting in online forums, or speaking with professors, for example.
All of that being said, I'm not convinced of the benefits of this online system. The only way I could see it being even remotely useful is if most participants transfer to a public institution of decent caliber after taking basic general education classes.