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Self-education: how far can you go?

  
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
15:11 / 31.01.04
I have been giving a lot of thought lately to the subject of self-education.

Self-education does not always get the recognition it merits: many people would not even think of teaching themselves anything more complicated than the recorder.

Yet self-education, regardless of the level at which it is undertaken and regardless of whether it leads to a formal qualification, is a valuable and rewarding experience. While conventional methods of learning have many advantages they also have drawbacks, such as lack of flexibility and expense. These days there's an increasing possibility that a given course may be withdrawn without warning due to lack of funding, or that the teaching staff may not be all one had hoped.

I am interested in exploring ways in which a person might formalize hir self-education. For example: In the UK you don't need to go through the rigmarole of a conventional course to gain certain qualifications, like A-levels or GCSEs. You just need to make arrangements with the exam board, pay the fees, and sit the exam.

Would it be possible to extend this principle to higher education--if a degree or degree equivalent qualification could be achieved without completing a conventional university course? (In the context of this thread, I'm including the Open University in the category of conventional courses.)

I've noticed some organizations which claim to offer a "life based" degree, where relevant career and life experience are given accreditation. (These look rather too good to be true and therefore they almost certainly are). I'm also aware of the UK's NVQ scheme, which works along similar lines. However, if a person has not worked in a given field, but has studied extensively within that field, could they formalize that study and obtain a recognized degree?
 
 
40%
16:41 / 31.01.04
This question is also of great interest to me. I've thought in the past that it would be good if people could just take uni exams without having the do the course itself. A lot of the time I learn for my studies mostly by finding a textbook that I like, usually not the recommended one, and reading all the relevant chapters, so I've thought sometimes, why do I need to pay for lectures when I can pretty much understand it on my own?

I guess the trouble with that is that you wouldn't become familiarised with the institution and its way of thinking. It shouldn't be an issue, but it is. I've found when I don't attend many lectures, I find exams harder because I'm not so much on the lecturers wavelength.

In another department, I bought a bass guitar recently, and have been thinking about asking a bassist for help with how to hit/pluck the strings, but at the moment I'm leaning towards just experimenting with different approaches, what feels comfortable and sounds good. It's an area where different players vary a lot, so it might be an opportunity to develop my own style from the outset, rather than following a so-called 'correct way'. But I'll see how I get on with that one.

I think the effectiveness of self-education probably depends largely on how good your instincts for that particular area are. I've done plenty of music stuff before, and it comes quite naturally to me, so I have some confidence in attempting this. However, I wouldn't try and teach myself how to build a wall, because it would be foolhardy, and I would just waste time and resources in the likely event that I would get it wrong.

But then again, to what extent is my belief that I couldn't build a wall based on a societal attitude that such things can't be done without training?
 
 
LDones
05:46 / 05.02.04
The greatest problem with just taking university exams without attending the university itself lies with the symbol of college degrees, I think.

A degree isn't simply representative of knowledge gained, but a sign that you've undergone a length of time and training at the hand of Institution X - with its principles and methods thus instilled in you.

That's why degrees hold weight, because institutions of higher learning hold weight. It's simple to take on-line courses in the US and get legitimate degrees in all manner of subjects - it just doesn't look or function quite as well.

That having been said, I've learned everything I know that's worth knowing about anything at all of my own volition, outside of educational institutions - schools have given me hints as to what I might find worthy of pursuing, but I strongly believe that all any school below graduate level can really show you is the door to whatever it is you're interested in – you have to do the rest yourself, on your own or by sticking with the grueling inadequacies of public education.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm belittling the value of a good, formal education - I couldn't heap enough praises on schools that offer genuine opportunity and a chance to really grab hold of discipline and knowledge and real-world chances at Doing - I've just always held the belief that education via institution is largely wasted by those who undergo it.

I know far too many people who expect to be told what to do and how to do it once they end their formal education - for whom the concept of 'just figuring it out' is drastically alien; and I think that's terrible.

The value of education is in knowing what to do in myriad situations, how to accomplish what you want, and really understanding Thing or Things X and your/its place in the world - the value of a degree or certification is that it's shorthand to tell others you are proficient at Thing X, so they might offer you the opportunity or resource to pursue/continue studying/make a living off it.

I've yet to find any organizations that can really offer a worthwhile, life-based degree that don't require a college-length investment of time and attendance anyway.

You can get a fantastic education on your own - you can only get a degree that's worth a damn by undergoing the normal process. (aside from specific trade-based certifications, such as MSCE, etc. but they require a fairly single-minded approach if they’re going to be of use)

Finding a job or properly 'open' doors for your advance towards the future without a proper degree is very difficult, though - it requires either a lot of luck or a lot of on-paper experience doing things that may be beneath your abilities before you can move forward.
 
 
HCE
23:26 / 05.02.04
This is going to make me sound utterly paranoid but I believe that the reason this doesn't happen in the US is that schools are a form of slave labor where student workers are trained at the expense of taxpayers (either directly through government subsidized education or indirectly by their families) to become obedient, indebted, and invested in 'the system' organized by 'the man.' Student labor and innovatoin fuels commerce and industry in many dark ways. I don't want to say much more than that because I don't want to get shot by said 'man'.
 
 
Char Aina
00:33 / 06.02.04
they cant shoot you. then we'd all know they were real.

in terms of official representation of your knowledge, could't you publish?
would being the author of good works in the appropriate field not be of any use?

i immediately think of your bass example, and all the album deals signed by untrained musicians... i know its not the same, but could a similar idea work?
 
 
w1rebaby
01:09 / 06.02.04
President Woodrow Wilson would echo these sentiments in a speech to businessmen:

"We want one class to have a liberal education. We want another class, a very much larger class of necessity, to forego the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks."...

..."I once consulted with a teacher of an extremely bright eight-year-old boy labeled with oppositional defiant disorder. I suggested that perhaps the boy didn't have a disease, but was just bored. His teacher, a pleasant woman, agreed with me. However, she added, "They told us at the state conference that our job is to get them ready for the work world…that the children have to get used to not being stimulated all the time or they will lose their jobs in the real world.""

The Educational System Was Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile

Just being difficult here.
 
 
grant
02:47 / 08.02.04
I think you can sit the bar (that is, take the test to get accredited as a lawyer) in some states without any formal degree.

There are other jobs... self employment, say... where self-education equals anything you can get accredited with.
 
  
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