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What I Learned In College

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Re: What I Learned In College

#21

Post by chunky1994 »

jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

In reference to: I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I would add an addendum that a good professor can significantly accelerate my learning of a subject, while a bad professor (in University, and not in high school) does not slow it down, but does not add much value.

Re: What I Learned In College

#22

Post by Ixiaus »

jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

A few things formal institution graduates don't realize:

When you say "you're more or less paying for the piece of paper" you're taking it for granted (unless you went to a shitty school). As an Autodidact in Mathematics, programming, compsci, and psychology with nothing but a GED; you underestimate the value of rigorous environments.

Learning fast is also not the point. Learning thoroughly is the point. Thorough and rigorous learning is really fucking hard when an Autodidact. University is an environment that allusively inspires rigor. You're surrounded by peers doing the same thing you are; you have access to instructors that are (sometimes) the best in their field; and you have access to facilities (even as an alum!) that are prohibitively expensive for non-matriculating learners.

Autodidacism is hard because you have to hold yourself to extremely high standards, you have to play with your own psychology to control inspiration and perseverance (you aren't accountable to anyone!!). So even if you learn on your own now after college you still will have a number tools at your disposal that you would've had to develop on your own without college.

Yes, I learn far better on my own too, but do not discount the enormous opportunity you had by going through college.

Re: What I Learned In College

#24

Post by jmduke »

Ixiaus wrote: post #22
jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

A few things formal institution graduates don't realize: When you say "you're more or less paying for the piece of paper" you're taking it for granted (unless you went to a shitty school). As an Autodidact in Mathematics, programming, compsci, and psychology with nothing but a GED; you underestimate the value of rigorous environments. Learning fast is also not the point. Learning thoroughly is the point. Thorough and…

I completely agree with everything you said, particularly the difference between learning quickly and learning thoroughly.

I'd love to hear more about your autodidacism. Do you mind explaining your learning process a bit more?

Re: What I Learned In College

#25

Post by dizzystar »

Ixiaus wrote: post #22
jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

A few things formal institution graduates don't realize: When you say "you're more or less paying for the piece of paper" you're taking it for granted (unless you went to a shitty school). As an Autodidact in Mathematics, programming, compsci, and psychology with nothing but a GED; you underestimate the value of rigorous environments. Learning fast is also not the point. Learning thoroughly is the point. Thorough and…

Couldn't have said it better myself, as an autodidact of CS, math, and music, this is my thoughts.

Managing your own time and learning curve is really hard. As an autodidact, I can just not do it because I am tired, busy, not in the mood, or whatever.

The second thing that college grads don't get the value of is that they are able to learn by some proven path. This path is not etched out so well and requires considerable research, self-assessment, and decisions that aren't comfortable at all times. You could spend weeks a) researching what is next and b) attempting things you aren't ready for and blowing off a few weeks on something you gained nothing from because that knowledge base just wasn't there.

There are many other little things you learn in college that are at times quite difficult to learn about on your own. Despite the apparent "free" education, nothing is free and there are things that you simply cannot learn or discover on your own. Guidance, whether from an instructor or a mentor, is very important when you are learning. Trust me, I'd gladly shovel out money for good guidance.

You also live a lonely life and there is no one you can call up who is also struggling or trade information with.

There is no way to really test yourself so you know you are correct and where you went wrong. Self-testing is either very hard or impossible in many instances, and that little epiphany you get from a red circle isn't available for you. It takes a certain amount of brutal honesty to get it right, and then you still don't always know. This is frustrating for me.

The final piece is the double-edged sword of readiness. As a grad, you have proved to someone or some institution that you have mastered the material and are ready to work, whereas when you are an autodidact, you simply won't have the confidence to face an interviewer unless you are something like 10x better than any bachelor-holder, and sometimes masters-holder, that walks through the door. The time you lose on getting better and better -- plus the massive confidence boost -- is offset in spades by a decent education.

Re: What I Learned In College

#27

Post by zanny »

adamnemecek wrote: post #16
jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

> I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I've had the same experience. And I hate how colleges seem not to recognize that.

They do (usually). You can even get credit for it, at least in the US, it called CLEP - https://clep.collegeboard.org/. Cheapest year of college I ever had - was around $200.

I skipped an entire years worth of useless general ed courses to get my "requirements" to graduate out of the way at my college on 6 CLEP tests. I think the notes I took for those tests reading the wikibooks and wikipedia articles on the various topics on those tests were some of the best domain information notes I've taken. I also wrote them online, so pretty much all my K-12 notes are useless, but I gave my CLEP notes to my extended family with notes they need to read the material themselves but I did a bunch of work already.

Re: What I Learned In College

#28

Post by dev1n »

jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself.

This. I was watching John Adams and he made an excellent quote when speaking to his son, "A scholar is made alone and sober." It's going to be my mantra for my senior year at college.

Re: What I Learned In College

#29

Post by dev1n »

The greatest challenge our species has ever faced is the educational system itself.

Almost. John Steinbeck said it best, IMO, "We now face the danger which has been the most destructive to the humans. Success, comfort, and ever increasing leisure. No dynamic people has ever survived these dangers."

Re: What I Learned In College

#30

Post by rdouble »

Ixiaus wrote: post #22
jmduke wrote: post #15

I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too. I learned that the fastest way I'll ever learn a subject (whether or not it's a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books. Professors will never teach me faster than I can teach myself. I learned that, yes, you're more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that d…

A few things formal institution graduates don't realize: When you say "you're more or less paying for the piece of paper" you're taking it for granted (unless you went to a shitty school). As an Autodidact in Mathematics, programming, compsci, and psychology with nothing but a GED; you underestimate the value of rigorous environments. Learning fast is also not the point. Learning thoroughly is the point. Thorough and…

Undergrad level math courses are not as thorough as you might think due to the time compression needed to fit a topic into a semester. Learning fast is kind of the point. If you dive too deep you'll run out of time to get through all of the material and get poor grades.
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