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I think you're focusing too much on school being a way to "open doors" or get a job. If you go to school for another reason, namely just to be impressed by pro

by capote 11y ago

I think you're focusing too much on school being a way to "open doors" or get a job. If you go to school for another reason, namely just to be impressed by professors who are insightful and brilliant, to learn cool things, and to expand your ways of thinking and learning... you wouldn't regret it.

bpchaps 11y ago
You should be impressed by professors from all sorts of colleges from all sorts of fields from all over the world already :). The internet's a beautiful thing. So many free lessons and academic papers to choose from.
- capote 11y ago
  Sure, but I see value in having it structured by the institution. And lectures aren't all you do in school, mind you. You work with peers, you go talk to the professors, you even become friends with them. I used to spend entire evenings in a professor's office just talking about things not even connected to the class I was in. Even the TAs were brilliant people to meet. The combination of all of this is indispensable to me, and I wouldn't have done it any other way.
  - bpchaps 11y ago
    This is actually one of the reasons why I and a lot like me advocate not going to school. There aren't enough non-judging peer groups focused on learning. The ones I've tried looked into tend to avoid the uneducated cranks. Having this sort of network will allow those who can't afford it and large sets of immigrants to have access to information they wouldn't normally have. I come from a largely hispanic area where many of those undocumented recently got the chance to get jobs, but they're still not able to get state assisted education and can't go to higher education. You'd be surprised how many professors you can talk to. I've had some very, very interesting conversations with professors over email, in person and over the phone. All it took was reaching out. A lot of them don't mind talking so long as you show genuine interest and have enough background to back yourself up.

by capote 11y ago

bpchaps 11y ago

You should be impressed by professors from all sorts of colleges from all sorts of fields from all over the world already :). The internet's a beautiful thing. So many free lessons and academic papers to choose from.

capote 11y ago
Sure, but I see value in having it structured by the institution. And lectures aren't all you do in school, mind you. You work with peers, you go talk to the professors, you even become friends with them. I used to spend entire evenings in a professor's office just talking about things not even connected to the class I was in. Even the TAs were brilliant people to meet. The combination of all of this is indispensable to me, and I wouldn't have done it any other way.
- bpchaps 11y ago
  This is actually one of the reasons why I and a lot like me advocate not going to school. There aren't enough non-judging peer groups focused on learning. The ones I've tried looked into tend to avoid the uneducated cranks. Having this sort of network will allow those who can't afford it and large sets of immigrants to have access to information they wouldn't normally have. I come from a largely hispanic area where many of those undocumented recently got the chance to get jobs, but they're still not able to get state assisted education and can't go to higher education. You'd be surprised how many professors you can talk to. I've had some very, very interesting conversations with professors over email, in person and over the phone. All it took was reaching out. A lot of them don't mind talking so long as you show genuine interest and have enough background to back yourself up.