Comment by rorykoehler
4 years ago
I’m an autodidact. No teacher can provide the density and velocity of information and knowledge the Internet, science papers and books can provide. I can’t watch a lecture at 2x speed if its live. I can’t cherry pick. I have to be at a certain place at a certain time when I might not be in the right headspace. Then add on top that’s it’s basically a crapshoot whether or not you get along with your teacher or not. I don’t regret going to college but I didn’t gain much academic knowledge there either.
100%. As an undergrad in the 90s I came to this conclusion as well. Then when YouTube, Khan Academy, and MOOCs hit critical mass in the 2010s, I could see the beginning of the end. COVID-19 has greatly accelerated the demise of in-person learning, and the fact that colleges continue to charge the same tuition is clear evidence that what they're selling isn't education, it's credentialling.
> I can’t watch a lecture at 2x speed if its live. I can’t cherry pick.
If you have a 1:1 teacher you can just tell them what you already know and they can jump to the parts you don't. Much more efficient than skipping through a video for interesting snippets.
I think 1:1 or even one to many teaching is amazing but more for the cutting edge stuff. It’s changing how you think more than what you know.