Ask HN: If you could transform higher education, ...

I would probably start a parallel system starting with 13 year olds and teach them the basics (reading, writing, math, science, history) through a program focusing on a trade or craft (limited selection obviously). Something where they can apply their knowledge in real world items but be taught the lessons through a focus they were interested in. Then setup the college years to broaden there knowledge and go into more traditional college subjects.

I guess if I ever get "really rich" I will try it privately.

1. solve the accreditation problem (either by alternative means of accreditation that would be accepted by employers , or by changing college accreditation rules).

2. improving the social element in online learning, to make it comparable or better than social element in offline learning.

3. today , knowledge is much more externalized. computer libraries and tools , outsourcing/crowd-sourcing , search engines and online communities enable this. it will probably become more externalized. does this require a different learning process ?

4. self learning is important. how do you teach people the skills to effectively self-learn ?

5. in many tasks today, the barriers to performance are not knowledge but psychological(things like motivation , concentration , attention to details , etc). is it the place of higher education to teach those ?

I'd probably just hire Sir Ken Robinson to put a team together and come up with a solution.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_crea...

Here's what I do: go to www.mises.org, and search "education". That'll keep you busy for a while. http://search.mises.org/search?q=education&site=default_...