How do we build a better Education mouse trap?

Springtime is a time of inspiration and for shaking off the cold of winter.  As the daffodils push up through the dirt and faces its bud to the sunlight, I am thinking about how we can find a way to change education and make it accessible to even those who may not be traditional in whatever form that may be.

I was a non-traditional student, not because I didn't go directly to college after high school, but because I discovered the lounge and my financial support dried up.  Good thing I chose to go to community college because of my unwillingness to take SATs or I would have cost my mom a mountain more money than the 18.35/credit hour and books.  After that first year, I became a non-traditional student.  I worked full time (McDonald's and as a drug treatment counselor) and started back again the following Fall taking US History with Mrs. Vines.  Then I discovered that I could succeed in college and I could even get great grades.  This was because Mrs. Vines made it clear if I put in the effort, she would work just as hard to help me succeed.

Today I was driving quite a distance and, as per usual, I was listening to podcasts and found a recurring theme of changing the education paradigm.  This American Life shared a story about the differences between poor neighborhood public schools and high dollar private schools despite their being within 3 miles of one another.  American Radio Works discussed UnRetirement where adults and seniors are continuing their educations to keep their skills, build new skills and become marketable well into retirement age.  These two podcasts got me thinking... We are missing the mark in many ways.

Problems:

• "Sticker Price" - Despite what the pundits say, I can personally say, I did indeed pay "sticker price" for my entire education.  In 1987, I could work a low paying job and pay my way to my associates degree.  When I transferred to a 4 year institution, I applied for 37 different scholarships pulling out dyslexia, adoptee, veteran's child; I qualified for exactly zero.   In the late 1990's, with some help, I was able to finish my bachelor's degree without student loans.  Master degree.... well.... I mortgaged my retirement by taking out student loans.  My income doesn't provide enough funding to pay off that loan before I am well beyond useful in the job market.
• Setting poor students up for failure - As evidenced by the statistics and the podcasts to which I have listened, many poor students, despite their potential and scholarships, often do not graduate in under six years.  
• Colleges are stand-alone entities - Many college campuses, other than the live-on-campus student population, shut down in the late afternoons.
• Traditional semester/trimester provides an unrealistic view of the "real world." - Many Americans would love to have 16 weeks on and 4 weeks off, with a break somewhere in the middle too.  
• Students told that college is their only way out. - Bunk!  Some students are well suited for all sorts of intelligent and difficult trades.  Not every person will thrive in college in its current traditional state.  What about all the skilled trades?  Not just nursing assistants.

There is so much more wrong but these are some clear examples that we might be able to fix with enough strength and courage of the right people in the right places.

Solutions

• Sticker Price - We need to find new ways to deliver education for as many as possible at the most reasonable price possible.  MOOCS have a massive failure rate and will most likely find their ways into training and other scenarios but as a pathway to a degree, there is much more to be done.  Let the research institutions continue to exist but separate from the educational institutions.  Many universities and colleges have a "publish or perish" mandate that causes professors to move away from teaching and toward publishing.  TA's can be great but really, they aren't from whom the student is paying to learn.  Let's leverage the communities more.  What sort of businesses can help educate people?  What sort of volunteer organizations can build community based learning?
• Setting up poor students for failure - Many students struggle, despite how smart they are, because they don't believe that they deserve to educate themselves into the middle class or better.  How can we build both confidence and responsibility?  The program mentioned in the This American Life episode was designed for two things, inspire poor students toward greatness through exposure, and develop empathy of the privileged students to understand that the world isn't as simple as they have it.  How do we develop these interactions more organically?  How can we encourage avoiding stereotypes and more interaction?  I doubt bussing is the answer, but we need to find a way to interact better instead of perpetuating the "other side of the tracks" attitudes that make the poor look angrily up and the rich look angrily down.
• Colleges are stand-alone entities - They don't have to be.  These classrooms could be occupied for many more hours than they are.  There are some places that senior living communities are opening apartments to college students.  If 55+ people started living on campus there could be so many positive results including the reduction of binge drinking and adults building and maintaining skills well into their senior years.  Many studies state that those who continue to educate themselves have lower instances dementia and less cognitive decline.  This could be evidence of it truly "takes a village." 
• Traditional semester/trimester - This no longer makes good sense.  It creates an unrealistic view of the world and creates breaks that cause loss of obtained knowledge.  I propose that these schools move to something similar to Colorado College and many of the on-line institutions.  Take one class at a time concentrate it and shorten the duration.  Sure, that means that people will be attending classes year round, but the flexibility it brings to everyone's lives would off set much.  Sure, there are plenty of businesses that live and die by "Spring break" but, I believe, the trade off is that we will have fewer date rape situations, fewer bouts with alcohol poisoning, and the money will find its way to other pockets. 
• Students told that college is their only path - I know that my path was non-traditional and I am still finding that I haven't yet found a way toward what I really want to do.  I was lucky, I had a mother who sent me to aptitude testing and I know where my strengths were.  Unfortunately, I made some bad decisions and paying the bills became the most important part of my life.  I was a doer and while I did finally figure out college and good grades, I would have loved to learn some specific skills as well.  America, it is time to teach programming starting in first grade.  Even if 90 percent of students do not become programmers, we all must know the concepts.  We can't just be end-users.  

I know that this turned out to be a really long blog post.  Thanks to everyone who hung with me and read the whole thing.  There are many problems to solve.  We need to refuse to accept "that is the way we have always done it" and move toward, "how can we do it better?"