The Next Revolution

            The Hearst Corporation is the largest privately-owned communications company in the nation. In addition to 15 newspapers, 29 television stations, and cable properties that it owns in whole or in part (The History Channel, A&E, ESPN), it publishes 20 nationaL magazines like Good Housekeeping, Redbook, O, Esquire, Popular Mechanics, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, and Road & Tack, among others. When I went to work for Hearst in New York in 1969, magazine subscriber lists were maintained on a phalanx of enormous IBM computers that worked day and night. Today, all that information can be accessed on a desktop.

            We are in the midst of a technological revolution. Just ask anyone who owns an I-Pad or streams Netflix on his TV...or works for Hearst. New applications are coming out so fast, they leave old guys like me in the dust. But the transformation brought on by computers is far from over.

            I think the next revolution affecting families will be in education. It has already begun. Go into any elementary or high school today, and you are likely to see kids sitting in front of computer screens learning math, science, history, and more. They love it and are good at it, because they have grown up in the computer environment.

            Dropping out of high school before graduation continues to be a problem. But now, kids don't have to go to night school to earn a GED like in the old days. They can earn one online at a very reasonable cost through programs offered by companies like Lincoln Academy.

            But here's the big one: I predict that  within ten years (and maybe a lot less), kids who want to go to college but can't afford it will be able to earn a college degree online. Already under development are MOOCs and MOOSes (Massive Open Online Courses and Seminars). Sure, kids with parents who can afford it will want to get that "college experience." But if tuition at a big private school costs upwards of $40,000 a year now, what will it cost ten years from now? Why not have access to the country's best professors right in your own living room at a tiny fraction of the cost?

            There are problems to be worked out, like testing and accreditation, but they are not insurmountable. My oldest granddaughter, who attends North Florida University while holding down a part-time job, is already doing supplemental course work at home and is excited about fitting more course work around her tight schedule.

            Not every college course can be taught online, of course. I doubt you will ever be able to earn a degree is medical forensics from your living room couch, no matter how many episodes of CSI you watch. But humanities? Why not?

            Wouldn't it be nice someday if those snobbish Ivy League schools had to compete for students?