Are universities slowly becoming a thing of the past?
1 Around 1900, the French artist Jean-Marc Côté was commissioned to produce a series of images showing what he thought life might be like in the year 2000. One of these images shows a teacher feeding books into a grinder. The grinder then somehow feeds this knowledge directly into students' brains from machines dangling from the ceiling. Now, there are many things that this artist got wrong about the future of education, but there is one aspect that the artist got right: The students are still in a classroom.
2 Nowadays, there is a conversation surrounding the emergence of online education and the future of universities. Whether intentional or not, this image can remind us that no matter how advanced our technology becomes, there will likely always be a place in society for the classroom, and universities. This is because a university education goes beyond simply stuffing facts and information into students' heads. In fact, university prepares young people to become fully-functioning members of society.
3 When a student attends classes at a physical university, they are given a chance to participate in real-time, face-to-face social learning. Experienced professors can monitor contributions from students and guide them toward more meaningful outcomes. In other words, professors not only structure educational experiences, they also individualize them, applying different teaching methods to suit the needs of different students. This is very difficult to do online, where professors often pre-record lectures and are therefore less able to respond to situations, questions, and comments.
4 The second major advantage of the university experience is that it gives students access to a community of peers. Students of the same generation will have similar challenges throughout their lives. Therefore, it is very beneficial that people of the same generation are given opportunities to meet one another. This way, they can form strong friendships as they advance together on a journey to their future selves. Through shared adventures, risks, and accomplishments, they can move from relying on friends to having an appreciation for interdependence. The result is that they will become more mature in handling relationships, which might not be possible with online learning models.
5 The social aspect of college life goes hand in hand with a third benefit: personal development. The university environment supports young people at a critical time when they start discovering who they are, and what they are good at. For example, through joining a club, a young woman might find out that she has just the right set of skills and interests to excel at engineering. Likewise, participation in a group presentation might help a young man discover that he has an aptitude for public speaking, which could inform his career choices. These moments of self-discovery are critically important for realizing one's potential as an adult.
6 Of course, there are ambitious young people who will succeed without a traditional college experience. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are good examples of successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of university. However, the vast majority of professionals who have contributed to science, technology, education, law, and the arts benefited greatly from attending educational institutions. It is an experience that provides structured growth, community, and, in the end, a sense of pride. For these reasons, it seems clear that while technology can play a vital role in providing information and opportunities to communicate and collaborate, it can only extend the role of physical universities. It will never be able to replace them.
