Jordan Peterson versus higher ed

“That sounds like a guru scam,” my daughter said when I told her about Peterson Academy, Jordan Peterson’s foray into the world of online education.

She’s not the only person to be suspicious. On social media sites like Reddit, some people are questioning the wisdom of paying $499.99 to enroll in Peterson’s educational forum, which launched this month.

But Peterson, the Canadian psychologist who has amassed an enormous following while pushing back against progressive ideology, has an easy retort: the cost of traditional higher education, which has doubled in the past quarter-century. Moreover, Peterson Academy’s offerings are quite different from other online schools, with professors from top tier universities and colleges teaching classes like “ Post-Modern Philosophy ,” “ Evolutionary Inference ” and “ The History of Western Music. ”

There is also the matter that the Peterson Academy is the latest venture that seeks to correct a stark ideological imbalance in education. Like the free online PragerU , not-for-credit courses at Hillsdale College in Michigan, and the University of Austin, which welcomed its inaugural class this month, these educational offerings are a response to entrenched liberalism within colleges and universities and in some secondary schools. As Steven M. Teles wrote for The Chronicle of Higher Education in July, “the public’s impression that American higher education has grown increasingly closed-minded is undeniably correct. Indeed, concerns about the ideological drift of the university are no longer limited to conservatives, but now include some left-leaning faculty who worry that higher education has become, in the words of Gregory Conti, a political philosopher at Princeton, ‘sectarian’.”

Peterson sees his academy as an answer.

In a video introducing the venture, Peterson answers the question “Why did I decide to build an online university?” with video clips showing chaos on colleges campuses, protests over the Israel-Hamas war, headlines about embattled college presidents and spiraling tuition costs. He says that he realized he could teach more people at lower costs than he could at a brick-and-mortar university. “We want to bring you the highest quality education possible at the lowest possible price,” he says.

Peterson concludes by saying, “I think it’s funny ... I got canceled at the university, so I could try to return the favor.” It’s a quip that led one person on Reddit to worry that that Peterson Academy is a “ revenge-motivated endeavor.” (Peterson, a clinical psychologist and bestselling author, rose to prominence after pushing back on a Canadian law that he said would criminalize not using a person’s preferred pronouns; he was later ordered by a Canadian licensing board to undergo training because of complaints about his social media posts .)

Peterson Academy did not respond to requests for an interview, but Peterson has said on social media that the academy has already enrolled 30,000 people. One of them is Noland Arbaugh, the Arizona quadriplegic who was the first human recipient of a Neuralink brain-computer implant, and wrote on X that he is learning through Peterson Academy for an hour or so each day. Arbaugh has said he is hoping to finish his degree, interrupted by the swimming accident that left him paralyzed, but for now, Peterson Academy can’t grant him one.

The academy plans to offer some form of certification in the future, and Peterson has said accreditation is a goal, but that will be challenging, said Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

“I don’t think accreditation should be as difficult for new institutions or alternative providers of education as it is. I regret that it’s as difficult as it is today. A very big part of that problem is that accreditation is a cartel, and it shouldn’t be. There should really be competition. Until that cartel is broken, it really will be hard to get accreditation,” said George, who also sits on the board of advisors of the University of Austin.

“And that’s going to mean that the pool of people who will find what Dr. Peterson is offering to fit their needs will be smaller. Some people will need an accredited degree because of their own plans and aspirations. But that doesn’t mean that he won’t succeed even if he can’t get formal accreditation. There are still people who have reasons to desire the content that he’s offering.”

What courses does Peterson Academy offer?

The website of Peterson Academy offers movie-like trailers of courses that are currently offered: 18 at this time, each of which offers eight hours of instruction filmed in front of a live audience at the academy’s studio in Miami, Florida. The website promises three new courses will be added every month.

In addition to a course on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche that Peterson teaches, other offerings include “Introduction to Neuroscience” taught by Baland Jalal, a neuroscientist at Harvard University; “Introduction to Nutrition” taught by science journalist and author Max Lugavere; “The Greatest Leaders in History,” taught by Andrew Roberts, a British historian and member of the House of Lords; and “Deconstructing Decolonization,” taught by Nigel Biggar, an Anglican priest and ethicist who teaches at the University of Oxford.

Stephen R.C. Hicks, who teaches two courses on philosophy and has three more forthcoming, told me that he was impressed with the academy’s studio and the “Hollywood quality” production. Hicks, who teaches at Rockford University in Illinois, is the author of “Explaining Postmodernism,” among other books, and he has appeared on Peterson’s podcasts over the years. When Peterson’s team reached out about teaching a class, he was happy to do so, and filmed it in May of 2023. He said he was paid “market rate” for his time and the academy covered his expenses.

While $500 (the cost of enrollment for one year) may seem steep to a young person struggling to make his or her rent, and there are many universities that offer online courses for free, George, who is not affiliated with Peterson Academy, said “it’s an astonishingly low fee,” given the quality of instruction. “I don’t know how that’s possible.”

It’s unclear if Peterson Academy has funding sources beyond its namesake, but if 30,000 people paid nearly $500 each to enroll, that’s about $15 million.

Earlier this year, Peterson told Fox News that the price point is important because it adds value through exclusivity. “People think that free is a good price, but free is a stupid price,” he said, noting that when social media platforms are free, the content can be corrupted by bad actors and bots because “there’s nothing keeping the charlatans and the parasites out.”

It remains to be seen, however, how long Peterson Academy can present itself as a university without conferring certification or a degree, either of which would challenge the sentiment that the venture is just an exclusive and erudite form of self improvement. The website says that the academy plans to roll out, within a few months, certification that students would earn by writing essays and passing exams.

Is Peterson Academy ideologically neutral?

On its website and social media platforms, Peterson Academy says it offers “education, devoid of ideology.” It is a bold claim, given that the namesake is generally acclaimed by the conservatives and denounced by progressives. A few people have branded Peterson Academy as a “conservative MasterClass.”

But Hicks, who teaches at Rockford University, where he also directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, said that every college is begun by people with a strong ideology or vision, and people should be willing to listen to and learn from people with whom they might disagree on some subject. “That’s important for any person who is serious about education or thinking in general,” he said.

“If you are the kind of person who says, I disagree with this person’s ideology, therefore I’m going to dismiss whatever they say or do, then the problem is with you, and not with the person,” he said. He added, “The test is going to be, for this institution, whether it is living up to its own ideals. ... Does he, in fact, hire professors to teach at the institution who disagree with him on all of the issues for which he is most famous for?” Hicks noted that, unlike Peterson, he himself is not religious and considers himself politically liberal. “But he’s willing to hire me, and I’m willing to work for him. Both of us are trying to model what a liberal arts college should look like.”

Hicks is a strong proponent of ideological diversity on university campuses; he says young people need to be exposed to a wide range of opinions from people who are experts in their field but not driven to recruit students to their way of thinking. “I am a liberal arts education guy in my bones. And, it has been enormously distressing to see the drift — it’s not just a political issue, but an underlying cultural issue — away from liberal arts education over the last two decades.”

He added: “I am looking for ways to — this is a little bit flip — but to make sexy again the idea that you’re going to go to college on a great intellectual adventure and you’re going to hear all kinds of ideas from all over the place, and some of them you’re going to think are crazy and some of them are crazy, but we’re going to encourage crazy ideas, and some of the ones you think are crazy are not going to be so crazy after you think about them for a bit, and they might actually be right. And you’re going to meet people with interesting ideas and you’re going to be challenged and you’re going to grow in your ability to take on the big issues and work out your own ideas. That’s what college properly should be. So I’m very proud to be associated with any institution that is taking that mission on seriously.”

As for whether Peterson Academy can take students away from traditional campuses, or if it will serve primarily to augment people’s education throughout their life, that remains to be seen. At Princeton, George has taught two online classes that are available for free on EdX — one, “ Constitutional Interpretation ,” was named one of the best online courses in 2019. He said he was skeptical at first of the free courses, but that the response has been tremendous and people have told him how much they’ve gotten out of the class.

“It’s in the interest of our country, and our young people, to let a thousand flowers bloom — to offer good education in lots of different styles and formats. There’s no uniquely correct way to provide higher education,” George said.

“I like what I do. I love that I have students I can sit down in my office with and chat with about their work … and I think that the traditional way of delivering education is a good way. But that doesn’t mean it’s the good way, or the only good way, or even the best way. Different students have different learning styles, different students have different needs. So, trying to find alternatives to the traditional way we deliver higher education I think is a good thing.”