I ran across a commentary (May 6) by a young elementary school
teacher and recent college graduate himself, Guthrie Andres, “The Value of
Knowledge”, with link here.
Mr. Andres discusses the proliferation of online courses and
their possibly unexpected effectiveness in organizing material. He mentions the Khan Academy, to which I have
sometimes referred. He provides the discussion
against a backdrop of rising costs for college education and increase in
college graduate debt (such as the Sunday New York Times today, May 12, story
by Andrew Martin and Andrew W. Lehren, link, requires paywall)
.
I also recall a discussion on ABC Nightline a few years ago
with Jimmy Wales about the idea of mastering “all knowledge”.
Certainly, I have been in the “free knowledge” business ever
since the I started my websites (in 1997) to back up my first “Do Ask Do Tell”
book (check me on Amazon).
Knowledge does not behave in our culture the way other goods
and services do (but, then again, neither does health care). I sometimes get pressured to get more into
activities to “sell” (or hucksterize) and prove that I can make other people
money in the short term with the “knowledge” I can offer – or else maybe go
away.
There’s something disturbing about
all of this – mastering knowledge and creating and interacting with art and
culture can augment one’s own self-concept, regardless of who else is around,
regardless of whether one is dating or has a life partner or dependents, or any
measurable responsibility for others (chosen by one’s own actions or not).
When I was a tween, my father used to complain “You read….”
. I was right about some things even
then (like the harm of too much fat), and didn’t want to play others’ “competitive” games.
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