system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Access to information has dramatically reduced the value of a university education.

Universities used to hold a monopoly on information. If you wanted to understand a concept about history, math, science, philosophy, etc, you either needed to attend a lecture and have it explained, or go to the university library and use research skills to pour over books until you gathered enough information yourself.

Now, a lot of this information is available with a simple YouTube or Google search. For many undergraduate classes, there are renowned experts who post their lectures online for free. If an online explanation of a concept is insufficient, and you want to find the right books to read, you can simply search "best books on X".

I understand there is still value if you go to an elite school. Personal access to experts, etc. There is also value in attending a university if you need to become familiar with certain expensive materials or machinery that you would not be able to otherwise access. But aside from that, I don't see many benefits when it comes to becoming educated. I believe that, for the most part, diplomas have become luxury items, with value placed on the label instead of on the quality of the item itself.
gpt
One of the biggest values you're missing is the overall university experience - that is, an immersion in the environment of higher learning.

You can certainly be an autodidact at home via your own research and the internet. But it's a far cry from actually dedicating four years of your life to living at a place of learning, surrounded by people who are either similarly dedicated to learning, or dedicated to teaching.

The lectures are one aspect of a university's value, yes, but what about the ability to demonstrate your proficiency in a subject? What about putting your own ideas out there and having them scrutinized and dissected by both your peers and your professor? Working with and against your peers, learning what *other* people are learning, learning outside of class simply by being surrounded by diverse but like-minded people...

To me, all that is what makes it an *education*, as opposed to just training.