Knowledge is free

I have long been an advocate for free access to information and education at every level. However, in the United States and in many areas of the world, free higher education is not the reality. And arguable, there is something to be said to the quality of education being tied to the expense - but that is a debate for another time.

As a university professor, I often get asked by people who don't have the means to afford higher education, how they can improve their situation. Usually, they indicate they would like to do this through obtaining a university degree, and I have no advice on affording college beyond the usual - apply for scholarships, go part-time and work part-time, join the US military for a few years to be eligible for a Pell Grant...

But I DO have advice on learning - you do not need to go to college to learn the content material you get from a college education.

Now, let me also say that a university degree is more than knowledge. There is networking, debating, arguing... lots of skills that go well beyond knowledge. However, knowledge is a key building block of the university, and KNOWLEDGE IS FREE! How? See my recommendations below.

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Advanced and Alpha students

Advanced students can be the hardest to engage and motivate in classroom material, while alpha students tend to prevent engagement of those around them in the class. New teachers often worry about how to motivate and engage the kids at the lower end of the achievement scale in their class, believing these are the students that have the largest impact on their class success. However, it is the super advanced and “alpha” students who have the most influence over class culture. So how do we handle these highly influential students? First, let’s distinguish between advanced and alpha students. An advanced student already has mastery over the material covered in class to the point where they are bored by the content, and when they participate, they finish assignments very quickly. This boredom can lead to behavior issues that spill over to disrupt the other students’ learning in the classroom. Alpha students are the student who takes over due to excitement about knowledge- think Herm...

The art of asking "why?"

As a society, we have come to expect higher education to shape our children’s future and set them on their path to becoming productive adults. Students and their parents pay tens-of-thousands of dollars in order to realize their expectations, yet often overlook the roadblocks that have been placed in the way long before they ever set foot inside a college classroom, they’ve lost the ability to ask one of the most fundamental questions of childhood: “Why?” As with most issues, the problem starts at the beginning – when you, as a parent, have lost patience with your toddler repeatedly asking “why?” Parents around the world groan when their young child starts the stage of incessantly asking this question over and over. When my two-year-old wants candy at the store after I’ve told her “no,” with multiple explanations, and she has asked for the eighth time “but why?” I want to pull my hair out. It’s easy for the busy parent to wish their toddler would just stop asking...

But it worked for me!

Teachers and parents alike are often struggling to understand why students today aren't and shouldn't be taught in the same way they were taught 20 years ago. From complaints about Common Core math, to policies on limiting homework, adults question why these changes are necessary. We often fall into the "but it worked for me" mentality: "But when I was young we did...[insert educational practice here]... and I turned out fine." This is a logical fallacy, since there was no control to the experiment of you -- there wasn't another you that was taught without that educational practice, so it's impossible to know if your education may have been more effective using a different pedagogical practice. Also, the theories and understanding in education has grown and evolved just like our understanding of science or development of technology. That rotary phone worked just fine for our parents, does that mean you want to give up your iPho...

Professor Kris

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