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People are talking about education. Parents with kindergartners are talking about education. High school seniors are talking about education. Mid-career professionals are talking about education. Military veterans are talking about education. Politicians are talking about education. In fact, as we swing into the election season, presidential candidates from every corner are inevitably turning their heads towards the nine-million-pound elephant-in-the-room that is education. Everyone is talking about education.

Mind you, not just education. Online education.

We know students must come first for true education reform to be meaningful, and a democratized model made possible by technology offers empowerment opportunities unlike any we’ve experienced before. The candidates know this. Recently we’ve seen major education announcements from the Clinton camp that incorporate very favorable views of online education, and we’ve seen the same from the Rubio team and others.

In a recent article by Gregory Ferenstein that considers both the new Clinton and Rubio plans, Ferenstein writes the following:

The idea seems to be bipartisan. Clinton competitor, Senator Marco Rubio, has his own plans for education reform, which includes a proposal for overhauling the accreditation process by including “low-cost, innovative providers.”

With both sides of the aisle focusing on this issue, one thing seems clear: After a long ramp-up and slow, but steady growth, the online education trend could finally be poised to take its place within academia’s hallowed halls.

So why is online education suddenly on everyone’s radar? Five reasons:

  • Inclusion. Our world needs it, and cloud and mobile technology make it possible.
  • The Democratization of Education. It’s long overdue, and it’s now very possible.
  • Rewarding Employment. Vocational no longer means what it used to. We’re not talking about second-class labor. We’re talking about rewarding employment as the true value proposition of education.
  • Freemium Content. Because of what technology makes possible, cost should no longer be either a measure of — nor an obstacle to — quality content. Freemium’s time is now.
  • Silicon Valley. Quality higher education is no longer the province of the Ivy League. We can now speak of a “Silicon Valley Education” the same way we might speak of a “Harvard Education.” And the online model makes a Silicon Valley education accessible to all.

If you’re a politician and you’re looking at the 2016 election, then you’re looking at education policies that are potentially going to carry into the next decade. By the year 2024, none of this will even be debated. This is the future of education. And it’s starting now.

Another recent article notes that what is driving these conversations is a critical sea change in thinking around cost and education. What the article highlights is a shift away from figuring out who will pay for education — a conversation that has been getting us nowhere for decades — and towards how to lower the cost of education (without lowering the quality). Cue online education.

The author, Libby Nelson, writing in Vox about Clinton’s new plans, notes:

A goal of Clinton’s plan, according to a senior policy adviser in an interview Sunday, is to “bend the cost curve.” That means lowering the cost of actually providing the education, not just shifting who pays for it.

The relationship between cost and quality is complicated, and where for-profit institutions fit into the equation is a subject of much additional debate. A recent article in The New Yorker included comments from Ann Larson, an organizer for a group of student debt protesters. She says:

“I think the idea of providing quality education to people in a democratic society is in contradiction to the idea of providing for-profit education…”

She then goes on to cite an example of where she felt the for-profit model went wrong, and concludes:

“This is what happens when the profit motive supersedes the educational motive.”

She is correct. The profit motive should not supersede the educational motive. But to understand these issues as a battle between the opposing sides of profit and education is to miss the ultimate point.

Regardless of your understanding of education’s true purpose, a students-first mantra must drive any legitimate approach to education reform, and online education — certainly as we at Udacity envision it — empowers learners to acquire the skills and knowledge they’ll need to find fulfilling employment in the modern world, at a fraction of the cost of what other models demand. This vision of online education puts the educational motive right where it belongs — front and center.

Christopher Watkins
Christopher Watkins
Christopher Watkins is Senior Writer and Chief Words Officer at Udacity. He types on a MacBook or iPad by day, and either an Underwood, Remington, or Royal by night. He carries a Moleskine everywhere.