Topic: Self-learning

The amount of college debt is skyrocketing in the United States while job opportunities sought by graduates are dwindling. Costly undergrad and graduate degrees used to be the passport to a middle class lifestyle but are now leading to a growing number of indebted youth who are bitter about their time in higher ed. Have modern ideas of higher education been so deeply shaped by the logic of the financial sector that we won't find an alternative? What methods of self-learning can we use to gain skills while avoiding the debt burden of a university education?

In Extraenvironmentalist #59 we speak with critical theorist Max Haiven about the financialization of higher education and how it has limited our imagination. Max discusses the Edufactory Collective and how we can't separate the university from the transformations underway in global capitalism. Then, we talk to Kio Stark about her recent book Don't Go Back to School: A Handbook for Learning Anything to discuss how successful self-learners were able to master skills without going through institutions of higher education.

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)

[Break] - 32m20s

Michael M'Gonigle - Montreal Degrowth Conference
Generation Jobless: Spain's Disenchanted Youth
Charles Eisenstein on Higher Ed as interviewed in Vancouver

[End]

Bill Hicks on the University of Houston

// Music (in Order of Appearance)
Beat Connection - Saola (ODESZA Remix) via Soundcloud
MSMR - Fantasy (NICITA Remix) via The Orange Press
Steel Train - You Are Dangerous (RAC Remix) via Caveman Sound
Jeff Spec ft. NaRai - Stop via Bandcamp
Airbird & Napolian - In the Zone via Gorilla vs. Bear
Travelling Day - Smoking Dog via Soundcloud

// Production Credits

Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel