Originally posted by Cuber456
I'd rather just self study if I was going to learn a new subject. It can be pretty easy to learn on your own if you do a little research and have the motivation. That motivation piece can make or break you.
Took German when I was in high school because it looked like a cool language. Never had a real use for it though which is why my knowledge of it has been withering away since.
I agree...
If I had the choice, I would bypass 100% that whole system...
Some individuals I talk to seem to think there really is value in college and school, in general.
(and by extension you're a complete moron if you haven't subjected it to yourself on a given topic)
I've heard the stories, programming courses generally are just awful, or you even do not use them because corporate "suits" like quick money, not stable code.
I took web design my sophomore year in high school, besides my motivation was broken because of my regular classes (it also spilled-over into engineering I, and art)
I've been told I can challenge classes in some cases, I intend to try, whenever I'm forced into that stuff, which will likely be this year T-T
Back on self-teaching:
When you self-teach, you're not pressured by some impending deadlines, or grades, or overwhelming PILES of debt... You can focus on what you want, when you want, and however you want. You also don't get told how to deal with "standard cases" , you figure-out all that shit, for the most part, on your own. School, at the end of the day, is comprised overwhelmingly of book smarts. I've learned firsthand that they really don't always suit the task at hand. Programming is especially true of it, especially at the ever-increasing rate technology "evolves".
Motivation is an issue, alright. I'm not sure I'll ever fully recover it. Mine is so completely shattered. I took a break after high school (thx to constant reminding me of stress things... extended now twice) to try and recover, to complete some personal projects, and to just generally heal from all the damage high school inflicted on me. So far, that's worked wonders... //sarcasm
So we're clear, I'm not saying education is useless, but people should be allowed to learn in what ways they want, and learn the fastest. School, in general, fails at this. Private schools being a bit of an exception, because they do not have to deal with the public school boards that honestly, just don't know what they're doing/saying... But, I don't support privatized education. Knowledge is supposed to be free*, or so that's what I was led to believe.
Cool. Only language class I took was Speech, cuz it's mandatory. (and the self-repeating joke called 'English'. But ofc, our language in and of itself... is kinda... weird and very hard to nail-down, hence repeating the same crap every year in the classes that teach it) If I were going to learn another language, I'd prefer to do it 100% on my own time, and of my own free will. Mandating it is a sure-fire way to make me NOT want to. IDK what language I'd choose. I'm not entirely sure I would pick it up that well. I'd do either Japanese or German, probably. Japanese more to fit in with some of my friends, German because I am actually part German. To be fully honest, I'd like to learn an ancient form of writing, like the Egyptian Hieroglyphs!
*Alright, wikipedia...
A while ago, I did some google searches for articles on how reliable it may or may not be. The general consensus is that the facts are largely misrepresented, and Wikipedia is discredited for something that not only happened quite some time ago, but since has been mitigated by their moderation staff. One of the articles I read suggested there may be another reason: text books. In this day and age, should they not be irrelevant? They're factually obsolete by the end of each year, and at the most extreme: each day. If there's a typo, the whole book has to be re-printed. Digital mediums aren't subjected to either, because they can be updated at the blink of the eye. Now, while Wikipedia still kinda requires you to know your shit, it's not this unreliable tabgled web of lies everyone (especially in schools) seems to believe. But, it's 100% free (excluding needing donations to sustain itself) , and more or less, public domain. Something the text books are not, and thus a threat to their very existence. Perhaps the real reason Wikipedia has this reputation is because text book companies still "need" to make their money, to basically extort the schools for knowledge that's supposed to be free... I read more than a few comments by industry professionals who support using wikipedia, and one of my contacts who also is an industry professional agrees it's not completely worthless. Anyways, does the conspiracy theory seem credible to you? I'm going to go with "yes" , since Wikipedia definitely has an enemy whom benefits greatly from it being considered "unreliable".
Well, that was longer than planned... sry...
____________________
awesome title later...