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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.
Our reading
The large lecture exists to cut the cost of introductory classes, not to produce intellectual joy.
Their wordsThe large lecture isn’t a tool for producing intellectual joy; it’s a tool for reducing the expense of introductory classes.
Their wordsHigher education has a bad case of cost disease (sometimes called Baumol’s cost disease, after one of its theorizers.)
Their wordsThe possibility MOOCs hold out is that the educational parts of education can be unbundled.
Our reading
A US undergraduate degree has become a requirement for not falling out of the middle class.
Their wordsIn the US, an undergraduate education used to be an option, one way to get into the middle class. Now it’s a hostage situation, required to avoid falling out of it.
Our reading
Open courses will raise quality faster than traditional colleges can cut cost or grow enrollment.
Their wordsAnd once you imagine educating a thousand people in a single class, it becomes clear that open courses, even in their nascent state, will be able to raise quality and improve certification faster than traditional institutions can lower cost or increase enrollment.
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