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There has never been a better time to be a learner.

I am confused with the above sentence because I feel that it means being a learner is not a good thing. I think the writer meant 'being a learner now is better' so I feel that it should be 'there has never been a better time to be a learner than today.' Can you clarify the meaning of this sentence to me?

This sentence is the opening sentence of a news story found here. The first few sentences read:

There has never been a better time to be learner. MOOCs rose to prominence a little over four years ago, and they have grown to total a staggering 5000+ courses from 600 universities around the world.

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  • This can be reopened, but please be a little more clear about what you are asking. Are you asking if it's a complete sentence? Or are you asking about what it means? (If you're asking about what it means, please try to give us a better idea of what part is confusing you.)
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 17:52
  • I wish It makes sense now.
    – Elmahy
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 20:51
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    Much clearer now (and worthy of an upvote, in my opinion). Thanks for the edit.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 21:47
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    You probably meant that you hope it makes sense now, and it does. Look at it this way "There has never been a better time to be a learner" = "Being a learner (now) is better than ever". It doesn't mean that being a learner is not good, or that it wasn't good in the past - it just means that new opportunities (massive open online courses) make learning more available to everyone, so being a learner is easier today than it was before.
    – Lucky
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 22:15
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    "than today" is implied, unless it actually says "than [some other time]"
    – M.M
    Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 22:19

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'There has never been a better time' directly means that the best time to do something is now. Something has just opened up that will help you ease yourself into the subject of the sentence, so: "There has never been a better time to be a learner" is implying that their learning service is a great opportunity for someone to start on the path of being an avid learner.

"There has never been" pretty much implies that this is the first. It means that something like this has never 'been' (or happened) before.

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