Google thought...

I was sitting on a runway in Chicago today thinking Schencky thoughts as usual.  Here was one.

If I were the CEO of Google... or the president of a small dying college, I would either start a college as part of my company or, better, buy or cooperate with one about to go out of business.  The degree--a BS in Google whatever.  Why not let the industry cooperate with an innovative college to create a problem based curriculum whose main purpose is to feed a company like Google employees?

Google of course is just an example.  A degree in Intel whatever.  A degree in Boeing whatever.  Sure, we'll throw in humanities courses so these engineers have a soul.  Just because you can make a really nifty microbe that can wipe out the planet doesn't mean you should.  Sure, the college would insist the students get a little philosophy and history, not to mention an understanding of physics that is a little broader than how to put a transistor on a sheet of silicon.

But the building block model of learning is too slow to keep up with the cutting edge of the twenty-first century.  Technology companies should grow their own.  But to keep their people human, colleges could facilitate it.

What do you think?  I personally nodded off just after having this thought... ;-)