so i’ve been under a considerable bit of stress lately trying to start/workon/finish my thesis, work on side projects, help raise kids, work on work, etc. (play mario kart), and have been thinking about priorities, education, and accomplishment a whole bunch lately. this is what i’ve noticed:
1) i’m so sick of school (formal).
2) i can’t learn enough to satisfy my desire to learn stuff (informal)
3) you can apparently make enough money to feed a family and purchase real estate from the informal version of education
4) some of the most ambitious and wealthy people i know have little formal education
so, what have i decided? i need to finish my master’s degree to be able to compete with the other people who have those degrees already, because most employers don’t appreciate the things you’re able to learn on your own (fortunately not true in my case).
but, assuming that everyone thought perfectly (read: as i do), what impact would being able to succeed with an american-dream version of education have on society? would harvard and yale be able to charge as much as they do for what they purport to teach people? would a million little self-learning things be set up to help people learn the important stuff informally? would they try to make as much money on it as possible, and, as should be done, would opensource-y versions pop up online?
i’m glad i was formally educated. the social atmosphere was nice, and i really think i learned how to learn at school. i’m just really, really sick of it right now