The Free Online College Core Curriculum

Over the past year or so, I've been on the lookout for free online learning materials, and have been surprised at the abundance of materials which are out there. In fact, there are so many that I've started to think that one could get a whole college education with free online learning materials. There's even one university, the University of the People, which offers a college education for free, with the only costs being for testing and a few administrative fees. I've also discovered that the core curriculum for a bachelor's degree can be gotten online for free. I've put together this list of the core courses for most bachelor's degrees, along with the name of the exam which can be used to fulfill that requirement, and a link to an online textbook or course which can be used to prepare for the exam. (More information for getting a college degree through independent study can be found at http://www.testingoutofcollege.com/ and at http://www.bain4weeks.com/.)

Written Communication

AP English Language and Composition or CLEP English Composition 6 credit hours (Online Textbooks)

Oral Communication

DSST Principles of Public Speaking 3 credit hours (Online Textbooks)

US History

DSST Civil War and Reconstruction 3 upper-level credit hours (Yale Open Courses)

CLEP US History to 1877 3 credit hours
CLEP US History since 1865 3 credit hours
Online textbook for US History from precolonization to the present

Non-US History

CLEP Western Civilization 1 and 2, 3 credit hours each.(Online Textbook)

Global Understanding

DSST World Religion 3 credit hours (Online Textbook)

DSST General Anthropology 3 credit hours (Online Textbook)

Literature and Fine Arts

DSST Art of the Western World 3 credit hours (Online Textbook)

CLEP English Literature 6 credit hours (Online Textbook)

Ethics

DSST Ethics in America 3 credit hours (Online Textbook)

Social Sciences

CLEP Introductory Psychology 3 credit hours (Online Textbook)

CLEP Introductory Sociology 3 credit hours (Online Textbook)

Mathematics

CLEP College Algebra 3 credit hours

CLEP Calculus 3 credit hours

An assortment of online mathematics textbooks.

Natural Sciences

CLEP Biology 6 credit hours (Online biology book)

CLEP Chemistry 6 credit hours (Online chemistry book)

I put this list together using Charter Oak's core curriculum as a guide, but the core curriculum of most other colleges is similar. My goal is to get a college degree entirely through credit-by-exam, so that my only costs will be the testing fees and the administrative fees to get the credits banked and to get the degree. It's not only possible these days to get a college degree without going into debt, it's also possible to get a degree without going to college, except to go to the testing center.

More Reasons to Homeschool College

Anybody who reads homeschooling forums and blogs is well familiar with school horror stories from the grade schools, which often involve mobbing, violence, bad teachers, and/or poor academic standards. Many people believe that colleges and universities are a step above this. However, I recently found two blogs which help to prove the contrary.

Rate Your Students and College Misery are websites which are well worth visiting for anybody considering a brick-and-mortar college. Both blogs are written by college professors, and most of the comment writers are also professors. Rate Your Students gives the horror story of the day, in which a college writing class is devoted to teaching the students how to write on lined notebook paper, complete with six rules for doing so, ie, don't write to the left of the pink vertical line.

Another post at Rate Your Students is written by a professor who swears in class, partly to make her students aware that they've entered the adult world. This is a good example of the modern tendency to confuse negativity with maturity, as there are many adults, even college students, who don't swear and find it offensive. Movies which contain pornography and violence are often referred to as "adult" entertainment. This attitude ignores the act that it's only been very recently that foul language has become socially acceptable, and that even today, there are many places in the adult world where swearing isn't allowed. For instance, many TV and radio stations don't allow their anchormen to use foul language.

College Misery reveals the hostility which often exists between the professors and the students. At least one post refers to the female students to as "snowflakes," and the professors' overall view of the students seems to be that they're mostly drunk and lazy. Reading the posts, and the following comments, gives one the impression of an environment in which the professors are frustrated and burned out, and who are dealing with students who don't really want to be at college nor learn anything there. As neither of these blogs is limited to professors of only one college, it shows that the problems with today's colleges are widespread throughout many schools.

This situation might also make one wonder if the traditional college experience is really necessary. As I was reading the horror stories, I kept thinking about the expense of college, and whether the hostile environment there really offers enough benefits to be worth the trouble. At one point, I considered becoming a college history professor. These blogs make me glad that I didn't.

There's another benefit to doing college homeschool-style. There was one night last winter, when the temperature was below freezing, the sidewalks were covered with snow, it was ten 'o' clock at night, and I was studying economics. It was an enormous relief that I only had to turn off the laptop and pull out my sofa bed, instead of traipsing out into the freezing cold to get home.