Investments in knowledge pay social dividends

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." -Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard University Thanks to the growth of the open-source philosophy, not everyone need suffer under the cost of oppressive student loans to gain thoughtful and meaningful education. A number of initiatives are working to share knowledge online and off - see below for two stellar examples:

Offering free classes open to everyone, the Experimental College of the Twin Cities or EXCOTC is dedicated to transforming education on the principle that everyone can teach or take classes and all classes are free. As an all volunteer run organization EXCO is no bigger than those who participate. "When you act, EXCO grows," so visit their website or Twitter and sign up to take a class, facilitate a class, or attend one of their upcoming events! Spring Class applications are due Monday January 18th. Open Culture's website touts that it has the best cultural and educational media on the web. They've compiled a list of 250 free online courses from the world's leading universities. The collection includes audio and video courses in the liberal arts and sciences available for download straight to your computer or mp3 player. For more, check the end of their listing, which includes a few additional resources for General Open Course Collections, including YouTubeEDU.

"My parents told me, 'Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving.' I tell my daughters, 'Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job.' ~Thomas L. Friedman