Self education

[S.H.A.R.P.]

Why follow expensive educations, when you can actually learn something by yourself! I have learned myself the basics of English before school started with it. I learned how to use Flash and Photoshop, with only the internet aiding me in my cause, through plenty of tutorials and other useful guides. I gained a lot of interesting historical knowledge, also with the help of our precious digital web. Currently, I'm trying to teach myself the Latin language, since I heard that a knowledge of Latin might aid in understanding other languages more easily.

So what about my fellow Escapists? What have you learned, or are you learning right now by yourself, which you might normally only gain through an education or some sort of course?

 

[fulano]

Common sense, and taking a crack at the russian language(absolutely beautiful thing).

Also, drawing, a little programming, a little bit of writing, a little bit of 3D sculpting, and other stuff.

 

[P1p3s]

whenever I was interesed in something I read a book about it

I think this might prove the point, generic schooling tends not to grab the imagination of most of the people I know. I went to university with kids who failed maths at a secondary level but were absolute algorythm geniuses on their courses because they were studying video game development and were determined - they wanted to be good and they cared about what they were studying!

EDIT: lol forgot to say what I was learning - well currently I am having a stab @ learning Hebrew & a continued interest in molecular biology, all from books and online tutorials etc.

 

[karmapolizei]

I'm teaching myself programming right now. I always wanted to learn it, and now I started with Python using an online guide. It's fun.

While self-education has a lot of merits (you learn something because you want to, not because you have to; the satisfaction you get from achieving something is much greater because there was no one pushing you), it also has its downsides: It's much more difficult to control whether or not what you do is correct or, in the case of programming, good style or efficient or what have you. You're satisfied if it works, but you don't know if maybe there's a better way.
I experienced that with HTML, which I taught myself about nine years ago. Looking back now, I found out a lot of what I was doing was dirty and inefficient (like not using CSS and only testing it on IE). I wonder what that tells me about my current Python efforts.

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

*snip*

I agree on the Wikipedia point you made. For me, it and audiobooks have made libraries basically obsolete (no, I don't take everything from Wiki for granted). But Wiki has the merit, that if you come across a piece of information on one subject, you can often dig deeper then you would from a book. After reading one article, I often end up with 10 other tabs in my browser which I'm interested in.

*snip*

Common sense? Not exactly the thing I was looking for, since everybody (save the people who still haven't found it) finds that mostly on their own. Russian on the other hand, is quite the differentiation. Interesting choice of language I have to say, and I can imagine it not being easy at all, let alone very beautiful, thought hat is a personal thing I reckon.

*snip*

I see your point and wholly agree. Kids today often aren't motivated enough to learn a lot at school. There was a topic about that here somewhere, quite some interesting arguments were thrown around.
And Hebrew... Care to explain the reason why you're interested in that language? It's not exactly the most common language around.

*snip*

I haven't before known of the Python language, I just looked it up and it actually seems like a good language to start out with. I learned a little bit of programming myself with Flash about six years ago, to make a little unfinished though functional game [http://megaswf.com/view/336c4b02581783e7dbda74f76ce3a42e.html]. It has really helped me to step up to other languages.

Looking at the code of that application, I realise that I could have made it far more efficient. But it is functional and therefore correct, and that what's it about. If you're making small applications, style and efficiency of the code don't really matter, as long as nobody sees the code and the application works. Of course there could be a better way, but you are still learning, and you can't expect it to be perfect right away.

 

[Ronwue]

Different editors, ASP.net programming... and some small others.

 

[Scarecrow38]

Nothing really... I guess the things I want to learn are the things I don't know how to learn.. like how to be a barrister.

 

[Nomad]

Common sense, and taking a crack at the russian language(absolutely beautiful thing).

*shrug* Russian, I studied that in school. Horrible language. I was supposed to study it for three years, only made it to one before switching classes. Pretty much the only thing I remember about the language is how to say "This is my cat" and "This is my suitcase". Oh, wait, I can also say "This is my cage". Interestingly, "This is my cage" was one of the first sentences on the first page in our russian textbook.

Anyway, I've learned html and C++ outside of school, and the majority of my English knowledge comes from there as well. Not to mention my knowledge about history and politics. I tend to come to think of something interesting, looking it up, and then spending the rest of the day/evening/night/following day reading about it.

The upside is that you come to know a heck of a lot of stuff... The downside is that you can't really count it as merits, since there's no proof for educators/employers that you know it. So what you learn, you pretty much learn for your own sake.

 

[Gitsnik]

Every now and then something comes up that makes sense to me that I realise I learned in school. Graph theory, finite set theory, non-linear equations I learned outside of school though, as well as teaching myself all the languages I know (Except Java, which I learned from a textbook while preparing for a year at tech-college) but that was, I think, as much about having bad teachers as not being in school (and I've picked up some nasty habits from the sordid mess of the 15+ languages I currently use regularly).

For all of that, I would go back and learn it from school if I could, if only for some formal computer science theory - teaching yourself online is one thing, but even the members of the open source community who are meant to be good make a lot of mistakes and often (anyone want me to start listing the Ubuntu Security Notices that have been showing up on bugtraq for the past 3 months?). Even the OpenBSD guys have made mistakes in their code.

 

[fulano]

Common sense, and taking a crack at the russian language(absolutely beautiful thing).

*shrug* Russian, I studied that in school. Horrible language. I was supposed to study it for three years, only made it to one before switching classes. Pretty much the only thing I remember about the language is how to say "This is my cat" and "This is my suitcase". Oh, wait, I can also say "This is my cage". Interestingly, "This is my cage" was one of the first sentences on the first page in our russian textbook.

Anyway, I've learned html and C++ outside of school, and the majority of my English knowledge comes from there as well. Not to mention my knowledge about history and politics. I tend to come to think of something interesting, looking it up, and then spending the rest of the day/evening/night/following day reading about it.

The upside is that you come to know a heck of a lot of stuff... The downside is that you can't really count it as merits, since there's no proof for educators/employers that you know it. So what you learn, you pretty much learn for your own sake.

Well, I guess beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Russian is kind of like spanish, my native tongue, in a lot of ways which makes it easier for me to pick up than most english speakers because I come from a different base, but it also is incredibly different. It's not so much diifficult learning all the grammar but remembering the many words that just sound incredibly different from anything either in spanish or in english("sebodnaya" roughly means "free" or "gratis"). In my verb book, the actual first verb is "rabotat" which means "to work."

 

[Kaotixthought]

C++
Not too fun at all.

And english is the hardest language to learn by far, most other languages are much more fluent, the european ones anyway.

 

[fulano]

C++
Not too fun at all.

And english is the hardest language to learn by far, most other languages are much more fluent, the european ones anyway.

Not really. If you come from a more complex language, just try to start speaking retarded and you'll quickly get there. Really, it does help. Enlish is actually pretty easy.

 

[P1p3s]

*snip*

I see your point and wholly agree. Kids today often aren't motivated enough to learn a lot at school. There was a topic about that here somewhere, quite some interesting arguments were thrown around.
And Hebrew... Care to explain the reason why you're interested in that language? It's not exactly the most common language around.

It's not a common language and thats why I figured it'd be cool, being English, learning languages is never high on the scolastic agenda "everyone speaks english anyway" so we are the shame of europe.

I spent some time in Egypt recently, my hubby picked up a bit of Arabic, we both know some french and i did enough italian to get by on a few holidays but having done some research into the origins of languages Hebrew seemed really fascinating.

I have a bit of a love affair with language, I enjoy understanding history and seeking out the evolution of words & Hebrew has a really rich wealth of not only "scientific" history but myth and lore, its a bit magical really.

One example is the 'talmud' a collection of jewish writings which start at the end of the TENAC (the torah and prophetic writings) and some of it is poetry and 'mysticism' and there are references to the "personalities" of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Alef (a) being the first letter wasn't happy that it wasn't the first letter of the first word in the Torah Beit (b) is, so God made Alef the beginning of the commandments, I love stuff like that.

That's why Hebrew - also not to mention learning another language script is pretty cool, it's not in the roman alphabet like all european languages are.

 

[Matronadena]

in the US lately, education has changed majorly.... Right now they don't teach to actually teach anymore.. they teach to take tests... ( I talked to more than a few teachers pissed off about that)

that is to say its more about pounding exact knowledge into a student's mind that will be appearing on standardized tests

better the students do on said tests, more money the school districts get..


and they also no longer teach to the general level, they shifted to a " one size fits all" which means they teach to the lowest common denominator..meaning the dumbest kid in class is the curve


this is the reason I'm pulling my oldest out of public school and into a home/private setting where atleast he can graduate HS, with a diploma AND a Associates degree at the same time

I love loop holes that the system likes to hide from the public

 

[Weaver]

The philosopher Sarte talks about his idea of a self educated man:
This man goes into the library and starts with the books that begin with the letter A...
then reads all the way, every book, to the very last of the Zs. He figures when he's done he'll be ready for all kinds of adventures! Unfortunatly Sarte must have had a really small idea of a library in his head, though that character isn't meant to be serious I believe.

 

[Bat Vader]

I find self education easier and there are no guidelines or restrictions on what can be read or learned.

 

[Weaver]

C++
Not too fun at all.

That's funny, I have little difficulties with it!

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

*snip*

It's not a common language and thats why I figured it'd be cool, being English, learning languages is never high on the scolastic agenda "everyone speaks english anyway" so we are the shame of europe.

I spent some time in Egypt recently, my hubby picked up a bit of Arabic, we both know some french and i did enough italian to get by on a few holidays but having done some research into the origins of languages Hebrew seemed really fascinating.

I have a bit of a love affair with language, I enjoy understanding history and seeking out the evolution of words & Hebrew has a really rich wealth of not only "scientific" history but myth and lore, its a bit magical really.

One example is the 'talmud' a collection of jewish writings which start at the end of the TENAC (the torah and prophetic writings) and some of it is poetry and 'mysticism' and there are references to the "personalities" of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Alef (a) being the first letter wasn't happy that it wasn't the first letter of the first word in the Torah Beit (b) is, so God made Alef the beginning of the commandments, I love stuff like that.

That's why Hebrew - also not to mention learning another language script is pretty cool, it's not in the roman alphabet like all european languages are.

Oh nice story there! I figured you'd like to read the Old Testament in it's original language, and seeing that is also a bit of myth and lore I'm not to far from the truth. And what an idea to give names and personalities to the letters! At least that makes the teaching of it a bit more interesting I suppose.

I'd be a bit daunted though by the different script. It's an entirely different way of thinking then I'm used to. Heroic of you, but I'll just stick to our Roman characters.

in the US lately, education has changed majorly.... Right now they don't teach to actually teach anymore.. they teach to take tests... ( I talked to more than a few teachers pissed off about that)

that is to say its more about pounding exact knowledge into a student's mind that will be appearing on standardized tests

better the students do on said tests, more money the school districts get..


and they also no longer teach to the general level, they shifted to a " one size fits all" which means they teach to the lowest common denominator..meaning the dumbest kid in class is the curve


this is the reason I'm pulling my oldest out of public school and into a home/private setting where atleast he can graduate HS, with a diploma AND a Associates degree at the same time

I love loop holes that the system likes to hide from the public

Yeah I noticed that to at school. Some teachers actually coped quite good with that and made some detours, making it more interesting for students to learn. Most though, just stuck with that they were supposed to teach the kids, and didn't add any flavour of their own to the mix. I suppose that makes it much easier for the teachers, but far less interesting for the students.

Aren't there public schools with different levels of education in the US? Or was (is) your son already on the highest, and thus (is to be) sent out to private school to get more of a challenge?

I have to say that in the Netherlands, we weren't exactly taught the lowest denominator, the difficulty appeared to be averaged out a bit (or there were a lot of less intelligible individuals in my class). Though I suspect the level worsens over time. In secondary education, there are already four levels of difficulty (with some directions you can take, so there might be five or six effective levels), so parent's are faced with plenty of choices in public schools.

The philosopher Sarte talks about his idea of a self educated man:
This man goes into the library and starts with the books that begin with the letter A...
then reads all the way, every book, to the very last of the Zs. He figures when he's done he'll be ready for all kinds of adventures! Unfortunatly Sarte must have had a really small idea of a library in his head, though that character isn't meant to be serious I believe.

That, or he was very patient, and needed no sleep. Can I assume that by mentioning Sartre (I assume you mean Sartre), you dabble a bit in philosophy yourself besides school?

I find self education easier and there are no guidelines or restrictions on what can be read or learned.

I agree. You can just skip the boring stuff, rules of policy and good conduct, and just start with the fun stuff; the things you wanted to do when you started learning for it. Sure, it may not be exactly correct, but it should be good enough, and you can always pick up the missing parts if you really want to go for it. May I ask what you have learned yourself?

 

[Bat Vader]

*snip*

It's not a common language and thats why I figured it'd be cool, being English, learning languages is never high on the scolastic agenda "everyone speaks english anyway" so we are the shame of europe.

I spent some time in Egypt recently, my hubby picked up a bit of Arabic, we both know some french and i did enough italian to get by on a few holidays but having done some research into the origins of languages Hebrew seemed really fascinating.

I have a bit of a love affair with language, I enjoy understanding history and seeking out the evolution of words & Hebrew has a really rich wealth of not only "scientific" history but myth and lore, its a bit magical really.

One example is the 'talmud' a collection of jewish writings which start at the end of the TENAC (the torah and prophetic writings) and some of it is poetry and 'mysticism' and there are references to the "personalities" of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Alef (a) being the first letter wasn't happy that it wasn't the first letter of the first word in the Torah Beit (b) is, so God made Alef the beginning of the commandments, I love stuff like that.

That's why Hebrew - also not to mention learning another language script is pretty cool, it's not in the roman alphabet like all european languages are.

Oh nice story there! I figured you'd like to read the Old Testament in it's original language, and seeing that is also a bit of myth and lore I'm not to far from the truth. And what an idea to give names and personalities to the letters! At least that makes the teaching of it a bit more interesting I suppose.

I'd be a bit daunted though by the different script. It's an entirely different way of thinking then I'm used to. Heroic of you, but I'll just stick to our Roman characters.

in the US lately, education has changed majorly.... Right now they don't teach to actually teach anymore.. they teach to take tests... ( I talked to more than a few teachers pissed off about that)

that is to say its more about pounding exact knowledge into a student's mind that will be appearing on standardized tests

better the students do on said tests, more money the school districts get..


and they also no longer teach to the general level, they shifted to a " one size fits all" which means they teach to the lowest common denominator..meaning the dumbest kid in class is the curve


this is the reason I'm pulling my oldest out of public school and into a home/private setting where atleast he can graduate HS, with a diploma AND a Associates degree at the same time

I love loop holes that the system likes to hide from the public

Yeah I noticed that to at school. Some teachers actually coped quite good with that and made some detours, making it more interesting for students to learn. Most though, just stuck with that they were supposed to teach the kids, and didn't add any flavour of their own to the mix. I suppose that makes it much easier for the teachers, but far less interesting for the students.

Aren't there public schools with different levels of education in the US? Or was (is) your son already on the highest, and thus (is to be) sent out to private school to get more of a challenge?

I have to say that in the Netherlands, we weren't exactly taught the lowest denominator, the difficulty appeared to be averaged out a bit (or there were a lot of less intelligible individuals in my class). Though I suspect the level worsens over time. In secondary education, there are already four levels of difficulty (with some directions you can take, so there might be five or six effective levels), so parent's are faced with plenty of choices in public schools.

The philosopher Sarte talks about his idea of a self educated man:
This man goes into the library and starts with the books that begin with the letter A...
then reads all the way, every book, to the very last of the Zs. He figures when he's done he'll be ready for all kinds of adventures! Unfortunatly Sarte must have had a really small idea of a library in his head, though that character isn't meant to be serious I believe.

That, or he was very patient, and needed no sleep. Can I assume that by mentioning Sartre (I assume you mean Sartre), you dabble a bit in philosophy yourself besides school?

I find self education easier and there are no guidelines or restrictions on what can be read or learned.

I agree. You can just skip the boring stuff, rules of policy and good conduct, and just start with the fun stuff; the things you wanted to do when you started learning for it. Sure, it may not be exactly correct, but it should be good enough, and you can always pick up the missing parts if you really want to go for it. May I ask what you have learned yourself?

Christopher Columbus sold people into slavery.