Autodidacticism

I'm currently in school for my 3rd year though I've been in and out of school for about 5 years now.

I'm currently studying Philosophy and have been doing so for a while, longer than any other major I've worked at.

I'm quite good at it, possibly at the top for my school, which isn't saying that much, though it's still good.

Since the very beginning (I've been to three or four schools, from the 'best' to the mediocre) I've been skeptical of the whole thing. Very skeptical. Certain classes seemed like complete bullshit, and even some of the better classes seemed like information I could easily find online. Then I've also noticed that other classes have forced me to work hard and learn how to do things "professionally." I would estimate that 1 out of 2 classes has been a waste of time and money.

Now, I'm wondering with the internet, is it possible I can educate myself without going to school, or at the same time? There is so much I want to learn.

Had I gone to my class today: sit and listen to this professor take exactly ONE HOUR of time to ramble on (I mean seriously, very slow) about perhaps a page's worth of actual data... for a high amount of money paid.

OR as I have done, sit and learn semiotics, read an article about music therapy, read multiple articles from online journals, and will for the 40 minutes which would be constituted by driving to and from the class, read further material about whatever topic is of importance, maybe economics. The problem is I'm not necessarily retaining information, or really "learning" it in that professional manner that schools (one half of the time) achieve.

I want to learn more, faster. There is little disputing that going to class today would have been a waste of time, apart from being "something to do," and that I have learned more at home. So what now? What can I do? How can I get something out of this college experience?

I think the main question here, after my venting/rambling... is do any of you know good, free sources for self-education? Or have any tips? I want to go "in depth" into fields that are offered at the school, and I don't want to have to take the classes. I want to do a "free audit" on my own time, from my home, or for cheap locally, on multiple subjects, such as programming, history, math, etc. I want to make sure my efforts are working.

we have open university here in the UK. you learn at home, in your own time with the help of online tutorials and correspondence with a designated tutor.

that sounds nice. I'm sure there are similar options here but I am skeptical of their validity.

how can one be good at philosophy?

there's many resources, recently i found out about coursera.org. the website hosts many online courses.

  On 5/23/2012 at 6:21 PM, vamos scorcho said:

that sounds nice. I'm sure there are similar options here but I am skeptical of their validity.

validity in what way? i thought you just wanted to learn stuff.

The real value in college comes when you dig deeper into your classes. Engage your professor at an individual level. Pick his brain for more, find out what his resources are and use them as well. Network with other students and engage them in discourse.

I think the big question is, what are planning to do with this knowledge afterward? If your only concern is learning, then yes, of course you can learn it all outside of school. It may take longer, depending on the material, but it can certainly be done. And it may also be more gratifying to do this (but it's also harder to keep yourself in check).

If you want to do anything in academia or whatever, then you need a degree. Then again, I think there are around 100 philosophy graduates for every job these days, so that route is not very viable anyway. (insert jokes about philosophy majors and jobs here)

  On 5/23/2012 at 6:29 PM, Joseph said:

I think the big question is, what are planning to do with this knowledge afterward? If your only concern is learning, then yes, of course you can learn it all outside of school. It may take longer, depending on the material, but it can certainly be done. And it may also be more gratifying to do this (but it's also harder to keep yourself in check).

 

If you want to do anything in academia or whatever, then you need a degree. Then again, I think there are around 100 philosophy graduates for every job these days, so that route is not very viable anyway. (insert jokes about philosophy majors and jobs here)

This. The usual way is getting a degree which could land you a certain kind of job. So my question to you would be what you would want to do with your hopefully certified new knowledge?

On the learning yourself bit: there's a number of top-universities putting up free online video's of courses. I remember having some courses through itunes. Think MIT, Harvard, Stanford kind of courses about various materials. The sky's the limit.

i really did not care much about my major (computer shit), but i got through it and got a decent job with my degree. my job affords me extra time to spend on the interwabbles, so as long as i devote a modest portion of my life to the people who pay my salary (NY state lol), i'm cool. this seems like the easiest option. if all you want to do is learn you will have a hard time paying bills

I'm definitely doing it for fun.

this is fucking awesome:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/

Why philosophy? (just curious)

reading =/= learning

http://www.khanacademy.org/

im trying to learn algebra from here so i can possibly test out of math gen eds

it's going okay but i suck at math pretty hard and haven't taken a math class since 2001, so it's slow going.

as far as learning goes, i've actually made friends with some of my professors (join clubs, get to know the advisors, it works wonders) and thus have really awesome conversations with really knowledgeable people on topics like social history, women's studies/feminism, and queer theory. it's rad as hell.

The main problem with learning by yourself is lack of guidance. There are a lot of things to learn, but to be a pro you need to tell what is the real essence of your study. As I was studying painting I saw how valuable a good mentor can be. But there are always a lot of things you can trust yourself to learn, it just depends if you understand the true point of things. Old scholars are usually good at refining truths for necessary and unnecessary.

Autoditacker by Mouse on Mars is an amazing album, so I say go for it.

Ironically I'm just now started studying for my engineer's license exam in October, basically trying to teach myself several areas of civil/environmental engineering that I have no contact with whatsoever in my day-to-day work, probably won't have any contact with after, yet need to know to pass exam > get license > get $, etc.

Totally agree about what people have said about the importance of a mentor, the human element still weighs very much on the learning process. I also vaguely recall reading that "doing" is the most effective way of learning and comprehension, followed by instruction (roughly 80% or something as effective), followed by reading which is only like 20% as effective or thereabouts.

there is no way to fully comprehend academic subjects by studying them on the internet. a four year education is invaluable. you need to have people who are experts in their field challenging the conclusions you come to. you might develop a surface knowledge of something, but it won't be deep enough to matter in academia or on the job market. go to school.

  On 5/23/2012 at 6:10 PM, vamos scorcho said:

I'm currently in school for my 3rd year though I've been in and out of school for about 5 years now.

 

I'm currently studying Philosophy and have been doing so for a while, longer than any other major I've worked at.

 

I'm quite good at it, possibly at the top for my school, which isn't saying that much, though it's still good.

 

 

 

 

 

Since the very beginning (I've been to three or four schools, from the 'best' to the mediocre) I've been skeptical of the whole thing. Very skeptical. Certain classes seemed like complete bullshit, and even some of the better classes seemed like information I could easily find online. Then I've also noticed that other classes have forced me to work hard and learn how to do things "professionally." I would estimate that 1 out of 2 classes has been a waste of time and money.

 

Now, I'm wondering with the internet, is it possible I can educate myself without going to school, or at the same time? There is so much I want to learn.

 

Had I gone to my class today: sit and listen to this professor take exactly ONE HOUR of time to ramble on (I mean seriously, very slow) about perhaps a page's worth of actual data... for a high amount of money paid.

 

OR as I have done, sit and learn semiotics, read an article about music therapy, read multiple articles from online journals, and will for the 40 minutes which would be constituted by driving to and from the class, read further material about whatever topic is of importance, maybe economics. The problem is I'm not necessarily retaining information, or really "learning" it in that professional manner that schools (one half of the time) achieve.

 

 

 

I want to learn more, faster. There is little disputing that going to class today would have been a waste of time, apart from being "something to do," and that I have learned more at home. So what now? What can I do? How can I get something out of this college experience?

 

 

I think the main question here, after my venting/rambling... is do any of you know good, free sources for self-education? Or have any tips? I want to go "in depth" into fields that are offered at the school, and I don't want to have to take the classes. I want to do a "free audit" on my own time, from my home, or for cheap locally, on multiple subjects, such as programming, history, math, etc. I want to make sure my efforts are working.

yes. you can educate yourself; very easily in fact. the problem is whether the working world will recognize such learned experience; it will not.

such is the life of a western education system.

feel free to PM me about details; i don't feel comfortable talking about it on the forums, as Im sure there are malcontents that claim experience in this realm that actually having nothing of the sort.

I should clarify that I am referring specifically to studies in the humanities.

I am not into "humanities" so I can't really address that. I frankly don't even know what constitutes "proficiency" when it comes to topics like "semiotics", "gender studies" etc. If anyone could explain that I would be eternally grateful.

In science/math, the path forward is fairly simple: read/work through a book with pencil and paper. It's difficult, but there's no way around it and at least you know when you are comfortable with the material. I would say that unless you are really struggling, a course/mentor is not required at all here. One possible counter to this is that a mentor gives you (a) informal, intuitive discussion that is not present in the text and (b) a bigger-picture perspective of the subject. But the fact is you can find both of these admittedly important things on the internet fairly easily, if you know where to look. And if your lecturer sucks (he probably does) this is what you'll be doing anyway.

  On 5/24/2012 at 4:59 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

Autoditacker by Mouse on Mars is an amazing album, so I say go for it.

you read my mind...well this is a vamos thread :)

well for gender studies* i do think you need SOME form of discussion on the matter. i don't think this needs to be in an academic setting but that's really a discussion topic. or at least i get such a kick out of discussing it that i think that.

i'm not saying you can't learn a ton of stuff about gender studies but it just helps so much with udnerstanding to discuss it with others. preferably people of different genders.

* see also women's studies, queer studies, and anything with its own self-contained academic lexicon that is basically made to be as dense as possible.

  On 5/23/2012 at 11:51 PM, encey said:

reading =/= learning

droppin it like a zen master

speed, is rhythm, rhythm is life -- game: machine; you: nnot! NO CHOPP-A OFF-A!