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If you need school to develop your education, you’ve already lost. This is the dichotomy of formal education: those that require it won’t benefit by virtue of t

If you need school to develop your education, you’ve already lost. This is the dichotomy of formal education: those that require it won’t benefit by virtue of the requirement and those that don’t won’t need it to become educated. Education is something you have to pursue for it to have much value. You can’t educate people that don’t care, and people that care are often quite capable of educating themselves. Is the purpose to chase credentials or to be a maximally functional human? Far too many cultures conflate collecting credentials with a constructive education. A low-key advantage of US culture is that they care far less about educational credentials than most cultures in most contexts; people motivated to educate themselves outside formal processes are given proper consideration.

CPLX 3y ago
> people that care are often quite capable of educating themselves. This is nonsense. Have you ever been to a doctor that educated themselves?
- deleted 3y ago
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- stocknoob 3y ago
  That wasn’t phrased exactly right; the point is that those who benefit from formal education are those generally motivated to seek knowledge on their own. (Similar: it doesn’t matter what parenting book you read, the fact that you wanted to be a better parent makes you a good parent.) Throwing masses of disinterested students through 4 years of classes doesn’t benefit them the way everyone hopes.
- snideremarkret 3y ago
  A doctor is not "educated" in the classic sense. He learns a trade -- but that is not "education." The GP is correct; and your view of education is a good example of it.
roxgib 3y ago
I definitely agree, but I do think for a lot of subjects schools can provide benefits that are hard or impossible to find on your own, such as access to equipment and facilities, dialogue with peers and teachers, group activities, objective measurements of your progress etc. Edit: the other commenter's example is a good one - you can certainly study medicine by yourself, but without access to labs, cadavers, and clinical training you'd have a tough time.

CPLX 3y ago

> people that care are often quite capable of educating themselves. This is nonsense. Have you ever been to a doctor that educated themselves?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
stocknoob 3y ago
That wasn’t phrased exactly right; the point is that those who benefit from formal education are those generally motivated to seek knowledge on their own. (Similar: it doesn’t matter what parenting book you read, the fact that you wanted to be a better parent makes you a good parent.) Throwing masses of disinterested students through 4 years of classes doesn’t benefit them the way everyone hopes.
snideremarkret 3y ago
A doctor is not "educated" in the classic sense. He learns a trade -- but that is not "education." The GP is correct; and your view of education is a good example of it.

roxgib 3y ago

I definitely agree, but I do think for a lot of subjects schools can provide benefits that are hard or impossible to find on your own, such as access to equipment and facilities, dialogue with peers and teachers, group activities, objective measurements of your progress etc. Edit: the other commenter's example is a good one - you can certainly study medicine by yourself, but without access to labs, cadavers, and clinical training you'd have a tough time.