Are Colleges Falling To Other Online Course Platforms?

It can be frustrating that a college degree can now be compared to an online course however, it does not mean that degrees are irrelevant just that information has got a lot easier to access and people are willing to share their knowledge for less amount of price.

As CG artist I have come to realise that I don’t need to go to a college in order for me to learn computer graphics and also land me a good-paying job. I just thought about why to go to college at spending so much time and money while I can pay for an online course which even saves me a lot of costs

There are a lot of factors that now make students to either drop out of college or not even go to college at all. Price, exams, time, experience, global/national situations, online resources, social media(youtube), finance, self-teaching, are all factors contributing to the reasons why students decide to drop out of college or not go to college.

Price. As we all know, it’s no doubt that colleges are expensive and it goes with the saying “if you think education is expensive then try ignorance” but its beginning to seem like an individual now no longer have to pay so much in other to be educated, as we now have so many platforms where an individual can pay away lower price for a course in Platforms like LYNDA, COURSERA, SKILLSHARE… and so many others. On these platforms, you can basically pay $50 for the same thing you normally get in college for up to $55,000.

Exams. Entry exams for colleges make it hard for most to pass and then a person will have to write more than once if he/she has failed their exams but some choose not to wait an extra year to rewrite their exams, they rather quit and do something else. Exams also contribute to as why students don’t even like college, it almost feels like an acceptance of failure whenever a person those not pass their exams and as for entrance exams.

Global/National situations. The human race has faced a lot of challenges through history till date and at this current state, we are challenged with the pandemic. The coronavirus has caused a major set back globally, stocks are high, schools are shut down this will take a while to recover meanwhile online classes have become the trend of schooling. Although not all schools can afford online classes most especially schools in third world countries this situations has truly opened minds for a lot of people not to totally rely on colleges to always be there for them. Even though students have taken a class from the back of their computer screens, the colleges did not reduce the school fees and this state has put a lot of parents and students into frustration and even protest, some students even protest for refund. knowing that there is no difference between a self-taught person and a college student all studying from home but the thousands a college student will have to pay has put some people to rather pay for an online course which is even cheaper and more organised than taking zoom classes. Today is corona tomorrow might be something else.

Social media(YouTube). Yes, we have YouTube, a place you can watch free videos of almost anything. YouTube is also another place you can find totally free courses of almost about anything. I also watch a lot of tutorials on youtube and I am sure that I have learned a lot from there and I am pretty confident that my knowledge on a particular topic can be compared to a college student. And whenever a self-taught person feels like he/she doesn’t have a community he/she can always join Facebook groups which has a wider community of people globally who do the same thing as you.

Experience. Whenever there is a job posting, what a company is most worried about is the level of experience and expertise but statistics have proven that very few amounts of college students actually have the expertise and experience, schools don’t really teach the actual skills a person is supposed to have but then give test and exams to test the student’s ability giving them test relating to real projects.

Time. most of the time college students don’t usually have the time to practice what they ‘ve been thought in class, they are overwhelmed with courses and classes they might not even need. As a self-taught who studies through online classes, I have all the time to my self I choose what to do with my time but the case is not so for someone who goes to college, a college student most go to class at a fixed time, sit for test and exams all these are time-consuming activities meanwhile if a person takes online courses the person doesn’t have to follow a fixed timing policy given by anyone.

Self-teaching. Self-teaching is a common thing we find in our societies nowadays and almost anyone can be self-taught, all a person needs is good internet, a computer and a mentor. With the power of the internet, it is a lot easier to be self-taught these days, and they are a lot of sites and platforms that a person can buy courses of his/her choice from. These platforms usually have experienced tutors of which are also rated with stars by reviews, and this gives several options for the person buying the online course. And one thing with been self-taught is having a satisfaction that makes a person thinks “if I can teach myself then why need to go to school”.

https://medium.com/a-club/i-refuse-going-to-collage-and-this-is-whats-happening-to-my-life-893c36f0188b

It no doubts that online services are increasing and the education sector will not be left behind but the question here is will schooling be more of offline and less of physical classes.