Minnesota does it part to keep America dumb as rocks..

[crockett]

Minnesota that state you never hear about, finally makes the news.. Well probably not as you likely wont read this on Fox News or CNN..

Seems with the up-rise of online education Minnesota has decided that it's illegal for sites like the start up Coursera to offer up education for free. It's not that Coursera is offering a sub par product and it's teachers are not up to par, not when they are offering courses from well known universities such as Stanford, Columbia, Michigan, the University of Melbourne as well as 30 other universities from around the country.

Nope it's not about who or what they are teaching, but because they don't pay the state a fee in order to teach classes for free on the internet.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te...education.html

[baryl]

Hyperbole much?

You might as well say that a government is starving its people because they have food safety regulations.

I don't live in Minnesota and probably don't agree with that but it's a fairly left-leaning state,very pro-regulation, so that's what they get.

[sandman!]

[atom]

Saw that on the news here. Fucking idiot government in this state.

http://ads.gofuckyourself.com/openx/...hostedtube.com

[crockett]

Originally Posted by baryl

Hyperbole much?

You might as well say that a government is starving its people because they have food safety regulations.

I don't live in Minnesota and probably don't agree with that but it's a fairly left-leaning state,very pro-regulation, so that's what they get.

I don't know how you would compare food regulations to safety regulations to this. Did you even bother to read the story that I linked. I'm guessing not.

This is far from an exaggeration you can read about it here as well.. T

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcamp...-old-law/40542

[Tom_PM]

Saying that it's hyperbole is worse than exploding a million atomic bombs! heh, lame joke.

But yeah, sometimes it's kind of clear that you're just "supposed" to march in step and not talk back when it comes to goverment regs and such. Some home schooling parents are now required to hold teaching degrees too. Used to be that you just had to turn in various standard test scores.

Remember it at the voting booth I guess.

[crockett]

Originally Posted by PR_Tom

Saying that it's hyperbole is worse than exploding a million atomic bombs! heh, lame joke.

But yeah, sometimes it's kind of clear that you're just "supposed" to march in step and not talk back when it comes to goverment regs and such. Some home schooling parents are now required to hold teaching degrees too. Used to be that you just had to turn in various standard test scores.

Remember it at the voting booth I guess.

This is nothing to do with home schooling and you get no college credits for it. The site simply allow you to take courses offered for free online by many of the major universities from around the country and world, for the sake of learning and nothing more.

List of the universities taking part so far..

https://www.coursera.org/universities

Their ruling would also make sites like Harvard's CS50 course illegal in the state.

http://cs50.tv/2011/fall/

[epitome]

A governments responsibility is to serve in the best interests of its residents. Free education is in the best interests of its residents.

[Tom_PM]

I get it. I was just saying that government regs find their way into every unguarded corner. Spend more money to do what you already did well already.

[baryl]

Originally Posted by crockett

I don't know how you would compare food regulations to safety regulations to this. Did you even bother to read the story that I linked. I'm guessing not.

This is far from an exaggeration you can read about it here as well.. T

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcamp...-old-law/40542

It's very much the same. Can I open up a restaurant without a license and a health inspection? Some states or cities are going to have a lot more red tape than others. Try opening up a restaurant in San Francisco.

I'm basically libertarian and I'm certainly not saying I agree with Minnesota but that's what it is. I'm just playing devil's advocate a little bit.
I found that huge Reddit thread this morning absolutely hilarious. People of that political persuasion always seem to be screaming about more and more regulations for everyone else but when something directly affects them, it's suddenly a horrible thing.

[baryl]

Originally Posted by epitome

A governments responsibility is to serve in the best interests of its residents. Free education is in the best interests of its residents.

Who monitors the quality of the education? What if I wanted to open up an online college and teach a fundamentalist religious version of science and call it a science class?

[epitome]

Originally Posted by baryl

Who monitors the quality of the education? What if I wanted to open up an online college and teach a fundamentalist religious version of science and call it a science class?

They are not offering degrees or seeking accreditation. They are offering free classes so it doesn't matter.

[baryl]

Originally Posted by epitome

They are not offering degrees or seeking accreditation. They are offering free classes so it doesn't matter.

They are still operating as a college so apparently they fall under the regulations for that in Minnesota.

I'm not arguing in favor of this, just pointing out the reasoning behind it. It's a little more than just "hurr durr, learnin' is bad"

[crockett]

Originally Posted by baryl

Who monitors the quality of the education? What if I wanted to open up an online college and teach a fundamentalist religious version of science and call it a science class?

In a free country you can do anything you want, BUT, you wouldn't be able to offer the course as part of a degree or credit for science.

Local craft stores used to offer art classes or a music shop that offers guitar lessons., do you think they have to fall in some sort of quality of education doctrine?

The only time quality of the education of education that is monitored, is when it is for a licensed profession that requires the course or it's for state regulated education.. (ie grade school & college)

[epitome]

Originally Posted by baryl

They are still operating as a college so apparently they fall under the regulations for that in Minnesota.

I'm not arguing in favor of this, just pointing out the reasoning behind it. It's a little more than just "hurr durr, learnin' is bad"

You go to college for the sole purpose of getting a degree. If they don't offer degrees they are not a college.

Should Google have to pay too because they provide the same educational materials to people who seek them out?

[baddog]

Originally Posted by crockett

In a free country you can do anything you want,

Sorry, but that is not even close to being true.

[baryl]

Originally Posted by crockett

In a free country you can do anything you want, BUT, you wouldn't be able to offer the course as part of a degree or credit for science.

Local craft store offer art classes or used to back in the day, do you think they have to fall in some sort of quality of education doctrine?

The only time quality of the education of education is monitored is when it is for a licensed profession that required the course or it's for state regulated education.. (ie grade school & college)

I agree with you. Maybe it's one of those little stupid quirks in the law there they could avoid by simply not referring to it as "college." I don't know but this is an excellent of bureaucracy run amok

[crockett]

Originally Posted by baddog

Sorry, but that is not even close to being true.

Obviously you can't run around and shoot people in the head because you want to.. That comment was meant to pertain to the context of the posting.

IE.. if someone wants to teach radical Islam they are free to do so.. Partaking in things that are often associated with it, such as blowing things up you are not free to do.

Much the same as it's not illegal to teach someone how to pick a lock, but if you try to pick a lock to steal something then yes that's illegal. The act of learning is not illegal.

Sorry I shouldn't of expected GFY to associate a post with the context of the material with-in it..

[crockett]

Well seems Minnesota did a complete reversal on their decision to ban online colleges.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te...ses_after.html

They have now decided after lots of back lash on the internet to revise the law to allow these colleges to give away free courses online.

[RyanEagle]

Originally Posted by crockett

Well seems Minnesota did a complete reversal on their decision to ban online colleges.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te...ses_after.html

They have now decided after lots of back lash on the internet to revise the law to allow these colleges to give away free courses online.

I guess that settles everything. Actually, its been hard for governments around the globe to apply their present laws in the cyberworld.