It immediately occurred to me that with all the explosion of internet based learning tools, why not create a company which validates knowledge? Let’s say you want to be an Electrical Engineer. Why not create a test for people to demonstrate what they know? As appropriate, it could even include real world work, like putting together circuit assemblies, or whatever EE’s do.
People could study at home, at their own pace, pay very little tuition, and once companies get used to the idea, are sold on the idea, college would become vastly less important, and cost might well start returning to the realm of the reasonable.
You could have differing level tests, and differing levels of Pass. If you want to study Humanities, you could do four years in two. You could accumulate certificates of various sorts.
And to be clear, I am not talking just about on-line learning. I am talking about getting rid of the notion of courses and credits completely, and simply testing what a person can demonstrate knowing, in aggregate, on a specific date.
I am thinking someone could become like the Underwriter’s Labs, but for validating knowledge. Obviously, you charge for it. A lot of work would go into figuring out what companies actually need for, say, graduating Chemical Engineers, Physicists, etc. You could have differing focuses. Obviously, content could be offered for a fee.
If anyone has proposed this, I have not seen it. Even places like the University of Phoenix are still giving you a degree and using the Credit system.