Certification is nothing but acknowledgement of knowledge. I agree that coming from a reputable source has more currency that the knowledge. Would be interesting how the certification from separated from the source of knowledge pans out. There is absolutely no reason for the source of the knowledge to be one to certify rather than administrative ease.
> Certification is nothing but acknowledgement of knowledge.
Yes and no. When I hire a Harvard grad, is it because he knows things? Well, it's because I assume he doesn't not know anything, sure. But it's also because I know he must have done very well on his SAT's, and must be a really hard worker and very mature if he was able to get the perfect grades in high school you need to get into Harvard. I also know that his network, by virtue of going to Harvard, is probably better than that of someone who didn't go there.
It's much more complex than you make it out to be.
I expect significant chunks of the Ivy League to survive nearly unscathed.
However, there's only a handful of "Harvards". Whatever exact argument you're trying to make (it's a bad thing? it's not going to happpen?), it doesn't scale down past the Ivy League, or it doesn't scale very far.
Besides, past the initial adaptation period, it's not like these credentials are going to be handed out like candy (those that are will be ignored, just as such credentials are today); serious ones like engineering degrees are still going to be years-long affairs. Are you going to prefer the student who showed enough dedication to do it without an enormous centuries-old structure holding their hands and dragging them along with proscribed structure, or the one that did it on their own? I expect significant chunks of the Ivy League to survive; whether they end up held in the universal esteem they are today I consider to be much more up in the air. They may acquire a much more rarified audience, while the rest of the world begins to look at them as a sort of easy way out....
With all this online education, the Ivies and a few public ivies are going to be more competitive than ever. They're going to have all the student performance info, and recruit heavily from the best students.
