Why the classroom will not disappear entirely

I hate to be an optimist in response to Dennis Des Chene's dire predictions about the future of undergraduate education being turned into online distance learning environments. So, here follows a refresher course (recall this) on why folk choose to spend a lot of money to have their children join an elite liberal arts college education and the many quasi-elite institutions of higher learning that emulate the elite (I hope my debt to Veblen is clear) :

1. It is a form of status seeking and conspicuous consumption.

2. It provides a) a valuable social network, not to mention b) opportunities for assortative mating.

3. It is a life-style choice (see 1).  Moreover, The enormous residential infrastructure keeps retention/graduation rates very high (see also 4b).

4. It a) teaches a lot of important social skills in b) a protective environment.

5. And for a minority group of students it is an escape from one's class.

To all of these genuine education is a noble ornament. To be valued for its utter uselessness. Moving the enterprise online where it becomes available to the masses cheaply destroys the brand entirely. Meanwhile, college professors are a relatively cheap component in keeping the value of the brand.

So, while online education may be good enough for lots of teaching environments, it undermines the very reasons for existing for the elite undergraduate institutions. (I say all of this while being agnostic about the kind of claims that turn on irreplaceable teacher-student relationships.) So, expect more foreign campuses and other clever brand-extensions, and a few show-case online programs that are a clever marketing ploy.