HIPS: Finally, Education Is Not Just For The Elite

By Bryan Hyde

COMMENTARY -- For much of human history, knowledge was very difficult to obtain. Most people spent the great bulk of their lives simply working to survive. Education was reserved for the elite.

The Industrial Age ushered in schooling for the masses, but it wasn’t until just a few generations ago that higher learning became a possibility for almost everyone. 

Even so, true world-class education was still limited to Ivy League schools with exclusive admission policies and steep tuition costs.

That all changed with the arrival of the Internet.

We now have virtually unlimited information at our fingertips, including the knowledge which used to be reserved for those granted admittance to the best schools. 

Best of all, we can access this learning for free.

We can learn math and chemistry from Khan Academy, or take open courses from universities in the humanities or social, physical or biological sciences. 

This does not mean that you will receive an actual degree for free from these institutions. It means that if you wish to learn, the knowledge is there for the taking. 

All you must be willing to do is step up and begin learning.

It’s not just our favorite distractions holding us back. We’ve been trained to treat learning as an event rather than a process.

The educational phase of our lives doesn’t have to end with graduation. Our personal education should continue until we draw our final breath.

* Hyde In Plain Sight is written by KDXU personality Bryan Hyde. Catch his daily HIPS vignette at 7:50-ish every weekday morning on KDXU and listen to The Bryan Hyde Show weekends at 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday nights.