Long after my formal academic career ended, I continue to learn from people. Not all of them are the best teachers, but if I think someone has something to teac

Long after my formal academic career ended, I continue to learn from people. Not all of them are the best teachers, but if I think someone has something to teach me, I put in the effort myself to learn whatever lessons they offer. Sometimes I think the biggest problem with higher education is we're encouraged to go through it long before we're really ready for the challenge. I graduated high school at 17—I was a smart kid, but still immature. Now, at 28, I'd love to spend a semester studying under someone like Dijkstra, even if he did (hopefully accidentally) inspire a horde of programmers to hate on every use of a single language construct without thinking. Chances are good someone like Dijkstra could teach me things a teaching expert with a cursory knowledge of the subject matter could never hope to. The only disadvantage is it might take more effort to learn from a subject matter expert who isn't as good at teaching, but I think that's a price worth paying.