system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
To cut college costs, students should be given the option to teach themselves. CMV

Basically, I think that by the time you are out of high school, you should have mastered the ability to read, study, take notes, and ultimately teach yourself the material. A teacher was necessary in childhood for helping kids comprehend and understand it when their reading abilities were lower, but someone should not need that kind of help in college. If someone wanted to save money, they could just request the book, study it over a period of a few months, then take the final to prove they have learned the material. 

This should be an option for every college student, but it is not because they don't want to devalue the necessity of the professor. I don't think it will do that completely, though. There would probably be a lot less students enrolling for formal classes (which could be a positive for the teacher in a way with smaller class sizes), but there would still always be a need for teachers for people who can't teach themselves or are very new to a subject. Math in particular is something you will always need a teacher for because it is not just reading, but a skill that you need someone to show you. Foreign language will also always need teachers for the same reasons. 

Still, if someone wants to take on the material and teach it to themselves, I believe they should have that option.
gpt
The assumption here is that knowledge is the only thing a university cares about when conferring degrees.

I believe this is an incorrect assumption. Universities care about what kind of students they produce *holistically,* not just what they know. That's why colleges are selective in terms of extracurriculars and personal essays and not just taking the highest standardized test scorers. 

Universities care about what kind of *person* you are and what kind of person *you will* be, not just what knowledge is in your head. For example, they care if you are able to interact in group projects or group labs. They care if you are able to participate in group discussion. They care to examine if your studying habits and attendance and punctuality are acceptable for future employment by employers who associate a university degree with specific graduates.

Thus, the degree they award to graduates is a product of a holistic evaluation; they are willing to call you an alum of the institution and allow you to associate and be associated with them; not just that you know many facts.

Hopefully that helps!