Universities had their basis as places of learning because they were the secure places, often in monasteries, where libraries containing the material for learning could be housed, and also places where essential teaching could be delivered, in lectures, by experts in particular fields to interested students.
No alternative model of learning was possible in those days than simply "being there".
It could surely be argued that now that virtually all printed material is (or could be made) available on-line, and so too the wit and wisdom of any given professors, why are "universities" necessary anymore except as daycare centres for parents to send their late teens so they can enjoy those wonderfully cheap term-time holiday deals in Tuscany and California?
Couldn't many 21-year-olds graduate perfectly well while living at home, after 3 years study via the internet, nowadays? With the possible exceptions of the ones who need to cut up dead bodies or blow things up?
No alternative model of learning was possible in those days than simply "being there".
It could surely be argued that now that virtually all printed material is (or could be made) available on-line, and so too the wit and wisdom of any given professors, why are "universities" necessary anymore except as daycare centres for parents to send their late teens so they can enjoy those wonderfully cheap term-time holiday deals in Tuscany and California?
Couldn't many 21-year-olds graduate perfectly well while living at home, after 3 years study via the internet, nowadays? With the possible exceptions of the ones who need to cut up dead bodies or blow things up?
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