Unbundling Our Broken Education System
Take a moment to consider what higher education is designed for:
- The pursuit of unbound knowledge
- Training for our modern workforce
- Building strong networks
- Creating active and engaged citizens
- Coming of age
But, has higher education delivered on these outcomes? After dedicating several years and thousands of dollars in our university degree, most of us fail to see the return in our investment.
The Problem: Factory Schools
Let’s break down why higher ed hasn’t lived up to its expectations and ultimately, failed at helping their students thrive in our modern economy.
Look at how technology has evolved over the years.
Today’s phones are completely different from back in the day.
Our workplaces have gone through similar transformations.
Yet, if we look at university classrooms, nothing has changed. We’re told that schools are preparing their students for the future, but they haven’t kept up with the pace of change.
If we look at history, we begin to understand why. Schools were built to train people to work at factories back when the industrial age required a mass influx of workers.
We’re all products of the industrial revolution. This allowed us to work within a hierarchical system and collectively, we produced more than we would have ever been able to solo.
However, in addition to skills training, schools taught their students to be obedient and conform; thereby killing creativity and individuality. If students didn’t comply, they would fail the school year and have to redo it completely. Sound familiar?
Henry Ford once complained, “Why is it that every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a mind attached?”
Today’s modern workforce requires people to think creatively, innovatively, and independently, while cherishing collaboration instead of competition.
Yet, the biggest change we’ve seen in higher ed is its rising tuition costs. Today’s average tuition is 31x more than it was in 1969.
With stagnant performance and rising costs, you’d think higher ed would face massive competition. However, becoming an accredited university is near impossible due to bureaucratic red tape. With no new competitors entering the market, existing universities have no incentive to disrupt their practices and innovate.
The Solution: Education Unbundling
Since universities have been inadequate at preparing their students for the job market, a number of companies have jumped on the opportunity to unbundle the university experience.
For example:
- MOOCs (e.g., Coursera & Udemy) unbundle skills development/content-based education.
- Accelerators (e.g., YC & Techstars) provide best in class information, community, mentors, and coaches.
- Bootcamps (e.g., Lambda School & SV Academy) unbundle technical training.
- Companies like Behance and Github offer credentialing for specific domain areas.
Unbundling Your Higher Ed Experience as a No-Code Founder
Being a founder isn’t easy. The most practical advice anyone can give you is to get out and start building. Start a side project, launch a new business, grow your current audience, or at minimum, join a small startup and learn from the ground up.
However, if you’re looking for unbundled alternatives to a university education, below are a few. This list is not exhaustive. It represents just a few companies that are taking a modern approach to career development by combining entrepreneurial thinking, community building, skills development, and real-world contexts.
University Alternatives:
Rivet School
“Rivet simplifies college by pairing an accredited online degree with real-world support.”
Minerva
“Experience four years of intensive education in a global context. Gain the universal skills needed to become an analytical decision-maker, creative problem-solver, and engaged world citizen.”
Nexford University
“Nexford is a next-generation university for leaders, not followers. It’s time for a paradigm shift in higher education. One that puts learners first, giving them the skills to succeed now — and in the future.”
Quantic
“Quantic School is the #ModernMBA — the world’s only accredited mobile-first graduate school. Accelerate your career with a rigorous program designed for high-potential, early-career learners eager to make a difference.”
Tomorrow’s Education
“Tomorrow’s Education connects and educates diverse, open-minded and purpose-driven people from all over the world. Together they tackle real-life challenges to solve tomorrow’s problems.”
Cohort-Based Alternatives
Workit
Workit is my current startup. We plan to launch our inaugural cohort later in 2021. We’re building a modern approach to career development by reimagining how community, peer-to-peer learning, and skills development come together to help tech talent reach their full potential and thrive.
altMBA
“The altMBA is an intensive, 4-week online workshop designed by Seth Godin for high-performing individuals who want to level up and lead.”
Ascend
“Ascend’s Leadership Program is built for women who want to be confident and armed with the skills and tools to have their ideas taken seriously, to empower their team, and to move up in their careers.”
Maven
“Maven is a new platform for cohort-based courses. They partner with the world’s best instructors to offer live, online, community-driven courses to transform their student’s career.”
OnDeck
“The On Deck No-Code Fellowship combines world-class curriculum, expert-led sessions and an incredible community to help their fellows launch a capstone project in 8 weeks.”
Section4
“Section4 helps their students level up their career by learning how to drive value with business strategy in the digital age.”
To be clear, I don’t believe that traditional universities are dead. They have strong network effects, and they are a great gateway for building friendships, meeting life partners, and overall helping students “come of age.”
However, due to the Covid pandemic, they’ve been forced to unbundle these IRL experiences. Yet, they are still charging the same for a four-year program.
Would you rather spend 4+ years of your life on an online education and go into massive debt or leverage one of many unbundled options and save both time and money while reaching the same outcomes?
Hi there! Thanks for reading 🙏🏽
I don’t write often but when I do it’s usually about my entrepreneurial journey. My goal is to provide actionable advice, frameworks, mental models, and examples to people who want to start their own ventures or projects but don’t have a typical business or technical background.
