This is why I am skeptical that alternatives to college are *solely* what will fix our higher ed system (although they certainly help!)
THREAD:
A truly unique and hard-to-replicate credential.
At most companies, employees are largely risk mitigation strategies. “You are buying dependability”:
medium.com/incerto/how-to…
You have to create a better proof-of-work, not just better curricula or teachers
Many of the supposed inefficiencies of colleges are actually important parts of its proof-of-work
Reliability
Responsibility
Socialization
“Proper” upbringing & beliefs
“Successful” & responsible parents
Employers prioritize conformity/socialization/reliability. See @bryan_caplan’s great work:
econlib.org/archives/2012/…
Gap between relevant skills (some alt models are superior)
Gap between their conformity/socialization/reliability signal (colleges >>> alt models)
The rare areas where the skills gap in the labor market is SO massive that it actually outsizes the conformity/socialization/reliability gap
So outside of these areas, and even w/in them, alternative models are fighting an uphill battle (not at all unwinnable! Just going to take a while)
Good alt models play an integral role in this process and many will be wildly successful
While 100% understandable, it’s also out of touch
Millions of Americans in thousands of locales would be economically devastated if this happened. Particularly in the Midwest which is already struggling
Fixing existing institutions that already possess these “credential assets” avoids this challenge
… help a particular (and large) subset of institutions whose business models are failing
The ones who are finally incentivized to play a different game altogether
Because in an unprecedented bull market like the one we have had in education, *that is actually the optimal strategy* for all institutions involved. So no opportunities ever arose for disruption *from the inside*
We have finally hit an event horizon that makes defection to a radically new model a superior strategy for a very large part of the market
The playing field of higher ed is about to go through a tectonic shift and there is no going back…
cnbc.com/2018/08/30/hbs…
It is adapt or die. So institutions are finally open to adapting.
As soon as a critical mass of colleges starts playing a new game, the rest of this segment will have no choice but to switch tactics as well
(I hope to publish additional higher ed threads that get into more detail in the coming months. Would love any and all feedback!)