(04-27-2020 07:34 AM)emu79 Wrote: (04-27-2020 06:32 AM)emu steve Wrote: (04-27-2020 05:29 AM)emu79 Wrote: Honestly when this is all over the question is why do we physical buildings at all and why don't we move to all on line classes for many degrees? You can still charge legacy costs for the buildings you don't need or sell them. The cost of tuition and books would perhaps decrease and allow many to afford college. Crazy ideas maybe but I think that is where we are heading.
One of the things I have seen in the suits over tuition during times of online learning is what is the college learning experience.
Without getting into the nuts and bolts of what courses could be taught online (e.g., intro history) vs. which require physical presence (e.g., especially lab course and my favorite, physical ed ) students would be upset if undergrad college would be turned into an extension of high school.
College is a rite of passage from adolescence into adulthood with great freedom and responsibilities. It means being away from home and the freedom to do things parents would not allow. It means football and parties. A chance to be with thousands of persons ones own age.
The model that one goes to college to get a degree as quickly and cheaply as possible to prepare for a job is largely passe'.
This is the thing which hurts schools like Wayne State. WSU has everything academically imaginable, but if one lives at home it is like an extension of high school.
That's a romantic and outdated notation Steve. Animal House was a long time ago. The purpose if higher education is to prepare for a career. By the way many companies will also be questioning the need for physical offices in the near future.
I agree things have been changing, and are now changing faster, but let's not panic.
This pandemic is like 12 months of hell with all kind of health, economic, lifestyle, etc. etc. changes in the short run.
My view from 30,000 feet: We were caught flat footed (even though we spend billions annually on research for viruses, which are not a new thing as if viruses were first discovered in late 2019 in China).
This is not the world's 'first rodeo' with these viruses, e.g, HIV, SARS, MERS, H1N1, and our old friends influenza and the common cold.
It is how we deal with them. I read that Reagan was very slow to deal with HIV but Clinton picked up the mantle for that virus.
I dare say both the U.S. and China were too slow to act for various reasons.
All of that said, once we conquer this virus things should be back to a NEW NORMAL.
So I conceptualize this pandemic as what Catholic refer to purgatory: A little like hell but doesn't last forever.
The biggest problem I see is that the strongest will survive and the weak not. Harvard is no threat to close its doors. A college which was on shaky grounds 12/31/2019 might be in real trouble.