Old Content:

School != Education

October 25, 2007 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Education, School
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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The people/person over here like to argue that, taking a page from 'Heroes' on NBC, "change the schools, change the world"... somehow that's not as catchy as the real version. While I tend to agree that if you change the schools, as far as teaching methods and the like, you directly affect the future... what about those of us that learn better outside of school? Oh, you didn't know we exist? Sorry, my fault, let me explain:

School != Education

Just because you go to school doesn't mean you're intelligent, or will come out of school intelligent. This is most true for college. Think about all those frat guys you know that get a degree in "accounting" or "communications"... the only thing that changes after 4 years is that they're fatter and start to wear suits during the day. There are exceptions, of course, but something tells me being drunk 5 nights a week, while "bro'ing up", is not really conducive to increasing your intelligence, awareness, or knowledge base.

Self-learners

And then there are those who learn better on their own (I'll call them "self-learners"). I am one of these people. For some reason, self-learners find the typical classroom setting very boring and slow, and would rather do the work on their own. This is not a cop out, or an excuse to be lazy, but reality. Speaking from personal experience, self-learners have a hard time absorbing information from the typical classroom setting, but when they are given the chance to learn on their own, especially for a purpose, they exceed all potential of any classroom ever.

Methodology

I don't know why this is true, but it is, and I know that my situation is not unique. When you can devour a book in one sitting, quickly learn a programming language by reading a manual, see the end results of an equation or proof before it's even begun... you find yourself wondering why you bother sitting in a classroom. Then comes the frustration when you don't do well on a test, because you learned the subject rather than learning for the test. Is not better to understand the overall breadth of the topic, and it's minutiae, than to learn a few small very specific pieces?

Examples

There are very obvious examples of the school system not being "form fitting" for many: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Einstein... the list goes on. Doesn't this say something? If some of the most successful, innovative, and intelligent people (in many industries) of this age dropped out of college... that seems to mean that college is not the answer for these types of people. The question then becomes: is it the school system? Or is these pockets of individuals? Where is a solution?

My Solution

I have a very simple solution, although I doubt it would ever be accepted by the college system. Allow full, complete, unmitigated independent study of any size or scope, and assign value to this. For example, someone who knows 4 programming languages, reads many 'high brain' books, and tinkers with electronics would be alloted the majority of a Computer Science degree, requiring only a few minor adjustments to an already full plate.

The problem with the modern collegiate system is that it's too rigid, too structured, too hierarchical. If someone wants a degree in Computer Engineering, it makes sense to take Physics, Chemistry, math, programming classes, and hardware classes... but English? History? Religion? All of these classes have been covered in depth since elementary school, how is one semester of U.S. History going to augment your knowledge from your years of history classes?

The other problem is that the college administrators assume that learning is a 'track', traveling from Point A to Point B to Point C. In some senses, yes... you can't design a computer processor without basic hardware knowledge. However, requiring 10 high level math classes in order to graduate as a Computer Science major? When most of your future will be involved with code? When has anyone used advanced Calculus in their lives, unless you're involved in the math or advanced science fields?

Schools are broken, and I want out. I've known this from Day 1 of college, and that's why I'm transferring to attempt to graduate faster... college classes cannot replace real world experience, and they will never be as beneficial as a subject learned by oneself for one's own purposes.

Old Content posts are leftovers from a less structured, less civilzed era that are kept for posterity.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.