Unschool? Uncollege? What do you think of it?

[Or-Tal Kiriati]

I recently came across a young education entrepreneur, Dale Stephens. Here is his web site: http://dalejstephens.com/ . Dale was recently named a "Thiel Fellow" - very impressive.

Dale is writing a book called "Hacking your Education" and is telling everyone that a college degree isn't really a must if you want to succeed in life. In fact, neither is a high school diploma.

Here's an interesting 15 minutes talk he is giving at this local college TEDx:

Just to be clear, he is not against education. On the contrary. What he is pointing at is that it doesn't have to be a formal education. Personally I agree. And I assume all (or most) self-taught people will tend to agree here too. Sometimes you must acquire formal education, like when you want to become a doctor. But sometimes you need the freedom to think outside the box and research for that knowledge that's relevant to you and your specified goals.

What he is preaching for, is, in my view, one of the foundations of that "education reform" or "education revolution" often discussed in the past several years. Because there's no point going against standardized tests, for example, if those are needed to determine your grades, which determine to which college you'll be accepted etc. So only by detaching from the formality and the linearity of the laid path to career and self realization, only there a real change in education can happen.

At least that's what I think. And Dale hints to it too.

What do you think??