Maggie's Farm

I beg to differ. It won't change anything. For the MIT credential to have value, (1) you must pass the admissions process, (2) you must compete head-to-head in real-time, on-site with others who have passed the tests. Most importantly, there is NO substitute for hands-on, in the lab experience. VOnly 2 to 3 percent of the population can do STEM studies at all (less at the MIT level), and very few of these have the discipline for self-study. This scheme is just a feelgood sop to the unaware and unable.

There is also the STEM myth operating here. The hard fact is we already have enough STEM graduates. There is no shortage of such people, especially at the grad school level. Almost three-quarters of all graduate students in STEM programs are foreigners--who go home. There's no work for them here.

STEM jobs are especially vulnerable to automation. Computers and modern communications have eliminated many entry level engineering and financial jobs and will continue to do so. When I was a coop student in the early 60s, the typical survey crew was three to four people; the field notes were hand-written in a book; and a skilled drafter converted the notes to maps. Today, one person comprises the whole crew; the filed notes are on a disk or thumb drive; and a program converts the data on the drive to a map without any or very little human intervention. Four to five guys became one. Dream on.