←back to thread

Has the decline of knowledge work begun?

(www.nytimes.com)
388 points pseudolus | 3 comments | 25 Mar 25 17:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.996s | source
Show context
fullshark ◴[25 Mar 25 17:21 UTC] No.43473662[source]▶
Bachelor Degrees need a complete rethink, it was basically modified finishing school for rich capital owners, needing to make their children of proper class before they could take over their businesses.

It then became a vocational degree for the working class, despite being completely detached from useful skills for a wide swathes of degrees. The only value is that you could talk the talk and become a member of the professional managerial class if you impressed the right hiring committee/individual.

In spite of this, we decided the working class should take out crippling loans to pay for this degree, and be in debt for the rest of their working life.

It's not sustainable, and just forgiving the debt only will make it all more expensive and less aligned with actual results we desire (useful workers).

replies(16): >>43474759 #>>43474920 #>>43475808 #>>43484968 #>>43485444 #>>43485470 #>>43485764 #>>43486648 #>>43487098 #>>43489446 #>>43490007 #>>43490860 #>>43491480 #>>43492834 #>>43493693 #>>43494210 #
dkkergoog ◴[25 Mar 25 19:15 UTC] No.43474759[source]▶
Education can't be standardized because business is not standardized. It's about relationships and every shop does things their own way. Teachers should just go contract and provide their own courses. The degree is really can't designate what the person knows.
replies(3): >>43485630 #>>43486125 #>>43492864 #
1. kelseyfrog ◴[26 Mar 25 18:59 UTC] No.43485630[source]▶
That's right. Education should be universalized, not standardized.

The commodification of education will eventually make it useless. Universal, bespoke education is the ideal, but it's usually prohibitively expensive.

replies(1): >>43486260 #
2. bluGill ◴[26 Mar 25 19:42 UTC] No.43486260[source]▶
I strongly disagree. Commodification of education is very important. I want everyone to have the commodity reading writing arithmetic education. It might be faster for the student to give one on one teaching, but everyone needs this and I want it such a commodity that we give it to even the poorest "third world" kids who have nothing.

As you get beyond those basics you have to become an expert in something that there are few experts in. McDonald's success is mostly based on their ability to take you from zero to a productive crew member fast. It takes many years to make a brain surgeon, in large part because we haven't commodified it - if we needed more we should (but since the world doesn't really need many it isn't worth it)

replies(1): >>43486636 #
3. kelseyfrog ◴[26 Mar 25 20:07 UTC] No.43486636[source]▶
Commodification denies a universal pedagogy. We've known this since the 1970s.

If you want a system that appeals to a plurality, and leaves the rest behind, commodification will deliver just that.