SimEon Says

I originally posted the below comment in response to an article on Wired regarding the future of MOOCs:  MOOCs have their merits, including giving free access to world-class education to students who for any reason (affordability, competitive ability, opportunity cost) cannot reach top-tier institutions. For students who are already pursuing a degree, they can help you explore a wider range of topics than a traditional university degree encompasses. However, I should take a step back first. Firstly, I believe that the traditional university model is broken. Degrees are inflexible, require too much time commitment, cost too much, and the nature of the job market means that the skills learnt are of little real world value. Why would I spend 6-7 years pursuing an undergrad and grad course spending close to 200,000 thousand dollars (when I could save that money or use it to start my venture)? Because jobs require "credentials" as an eligibility criteria, even tho