I have been seeing a lot of stuff about Treehouse lately, and how it’s the future of education, blah, blah, blah.

What is amusing to me, is that they, being the Treehouse folks, are trying to position coding as a trade skill, like welding.

I have a few problems with that, since there is a very real science to development, and someone who learns their craft from Treehouse shouldn’t be labeling themselves as an engineer, but I get what they are saying and can get on board.

Look, I’m not going to be slagging on Treehouse or Ryan Carson, whom I respect greatly. I am taking issue with the narrative that Treehouse can or should replace a college or university education.

The thing is, a trade school is not a college or a university, and to say that they are the same is disingenuous at best, woefully uninformed at worst.

The point of a university education, a liberal arts education, is to teach you how to think critically; to be a well rounded individual. Do you learn useful skills? Of course, but they are secondary to the central issue which is your growth and maturation as a human being.

Being exposed to art and music history gives you a more informed understanding of beauty and expression, both individual expression and cultural expression. Review of history is essential to the orderly functioning of a democracy, now more than ever.

The very act of confronting young minds with heady issues like politics, religion and social movements forces a look inwardly to the self, as well as outwardly to society. It is in these moments that you are given the opportunity to define who you are, and what you will become.

This is the power of education, and this is what is missed when you go the route of a trade school, which is why you cannot equate the two.

And yes I agree completely that the cost of education in this country today is absurd. I fully support the idea of public universities being free to attend, and I will happily pay the taxes required to make this happen since an educated populace is a good populace.

Treehouse might be the future of trade schools, but I certainly hope it’s not the future of education as a whole.

Originally published at Sillyness Spelled Wrong Intentionally