When Lawrence Wong takes office as Singapore’s Prime Minister, it will be a proud moment for Justin Morrill.
Morrill was an American congressman representing Vermont in the 19th century. The Congressman will not be at the Istana on May 15. He died in 1898 but will look down from the heavens like a kindly uncle.
Wong will become the first Asian leader to earn a bachelor’s degree from an American state university. The 51-year-old graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1994. The state university system is the secret sauce that has driven America’s success. It has also powered Wong’s ascent.
Justin Morrill never attended college. His formal schooling ended at 15. Education was no barrier to his success for this hardworking and determined man. He made a fortune as a shopkeeper in Burlington, Vermont.
He retired from business at 38 to follow his passion for politics. He then served 43 years in Congress. Morrill’s name will live long because he was the father of the state university system.
His own lack of learning inspired him to push for government-funded education in every state. His main aim was to create a vast number of agriculture experts.
The Morrill Act allowed states to sell millions of acres of federal land to fund universities. This was a novel idea when university education was expensive and elitist. The state universities’ main academic focus was agriculture and mechanical arts (what we now call engineering). The US was an agricultural society in those days.
Over 109 universities were created. The US became the first society to offer a mass university education. In Europe and Asia, university education was reserved for the rich until the middle of the 20th century.
See also: Anthropic CEO says mandatory safety tests needed for AI models
Justin Morrill, which helped make university education accessible / Image: Shuttestock
The Morrill Act opened education to everyone. Since 1862, more than 20 million graduates have been produced by more than 104 state universities spawned by the act. They have powered America’s ascent. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, was an engineering graduate of Purdue University. Tony Fadell, who led the design of the iPhone, studied computer engineering at the University of Michigan.
New revolution
Exactly 160 years after the passage of the Morrill Act, a new revolution may transform education. It is called ChatGPT — a feature that was introduced in 2022. ChatGPT will not change education but is a metaphor for generative AI.
Generative AI’s predictive capability will transform education. It can release administrators from menial and repetitive tasks. AI can relieve professors from transferring marks (grades in American English) to spreadsheets. It may mean that marking could be automated. The admissions process could be handled by a fraction of the staff.
This would make education cheaper and more accessible. Most of the cost of higher education is for administration and not teaching.
There are other benefits of generative AI. It could help predict the students’ grades within weeks of starting the course. This would help professors to give more attention to the students in need.
There are independent companies that are using AI to change education. Investors may want to learn about these stocks.
Sink your teeth into in-depth insights from our contributors, and dive into financial and economic trends
Coursera is a company in the US, offering online certifications and degrees in over 200 subjects such as financial accounting or Python programming. Coursera has 129 million students, which is more than half the entire university population worldwide. It has introduced many AI features that help teachers craft material and quickly grade assignments.
Coursera has fallen 50% ytd and is trading 5 times EV/EBITDA. The new AI features could help improve its grades with investors.
Docebo is another edtech worth studying. This is a Canadian software company that uses AI to train workers. It has a feature that automates content creation. The market expects its ebitda to be six times its FY2023 levels.
Investors have much to learn. The Morrill Act took university education to the masses 162 years ago. These AI-powered education companies may do the same in the 21st century.
Nirgunan Tiruchelvam is head of consumer and internet at Aletheia Capital and author of Investing in the Covid Era
