Pretty much everything you need to learn can be learned online these days. What’s the point of spending tens of thousands of dollars learning something in university if you can google everything these days? I was wondering this for a long time. Please answer my question.
- Not everything you learn in college can easily be found online and for free.
- You have professors, TAs, other classmates to help you.
- College "experience"
- Degree
Sure. Relying on google doesn’t give you experience in interacting with people.
You wouldn’t get a job very easily if told an employer that you just googled everything that you need to know.
Learning things online by googling doesn’t give you hands-on experience, a must in many fields, especially lab sciences. It doesn’t help you improve your writing skills - listening to a lecture on how to write a paper in no way compares to writing papers and having them critiqued/graded. You don’t learn to express your opinion in a group or develop presentation skills by only watching. You don’t demonstrate proficiency by just googling something - sure you may have watched tons of lectures on how to build a bridge, but do you really understand the concepts needed to be a structural engineer?
There are some things that can easily be learned by watching lectures, but without proof - in the form of a degree - how does an employer know that you have been exposed to and mastered all the concepts that employer wants? You can do an online degree program, which does provide some interaction with faculty/other students and feedback in the form of grades, but to go to an employer with a list of TED talks and MOOCs you’ve viewed - that’s not going to get you hired.
Not everything on Google is correct.
Just for the degree. Assuming competent self study, one can become more proficient at Differential equations than the average university student. Yet, the student will have the degree and you won’t, which is what matters in getting a job.
AKA “society is stupid.”
Learning is a process of discovery. For some subjects, that discovery can happen between you and a book, or a book augmented with explanation from a video feed (with or without questions, or a moderated chatroom). For others, the instantaneous give-and-take of discussion, argumentation, and debate is the only way to stretch and change POV or perspective. The intensity and shift that happens in a group dynamic affects how learning happens in these sorts of classes.
Add to that different learning styles. Not everyone can learn effectively without being present in the room.
Think of it this way- have you ever taken a vacation to the redwoods or to Mt. Rushmore? Could you watch a 2 hour documentary, and put on the hat and T-Shirt and call it a day (BTDT, got the T-Shirt)? There is something that happens in experiencing certain things.
If you want to learn a skill, online may be the way to go. But if you are learning a deeper act of creation, it may be much more difficult from your armchair.
- interaction with other students and professor
- discussion based courses to hone ability to speak
- networking
- resources such as career center, academic advising, internship help
- research experience
- keeps you accountable
- lab (for science majors)
- learning the processes for critical thinking (many classes make tests to difficult to ever google the answer. Many in fact are take-home and/or open everything including internet because they know google cannot help you at all)
- tutoring resources
- drafting, writing, editing resources
- resources for those who have issues with mental health, being POC, first gen, etc
- experience living away from home
- famous speakers
- none of the arts can be done well through a computer Presumably an even much longer list, but these are the first ones that popped into my head.