What sealed my decision to spend my last two years of high school at the state Math and Science school instead of the same public high school I’d been attending was the realization that I was learning more from the internet than I was in classes, with the exception of a few chemistry concepts that I never thought of looking up.
When I graduated, I realized that even the Math and Science school didn’t catch up with what I’d learned from the internet until the final semester. I’d still say it was worth it, and I decidedly did not optimize (mostly because I was still thinking of science more as “stuff scientists discovered” than “an insanely useful method that you should pay attention to outside of science fairs”), but college? Not so much. There were benefits, sure (I think the main one Crux left out that I completely failed to even try at is networking with professionals in a broader sense than work experience), but the most important things I learned while at college were things that came entirely from the internet or experiences on holidays. There were quite a few things I stubbornly tried not to believe (mostly things about human psychology) that were thoroughly demolished by the internet (especially when I finally got to LessWrong, but by then it was a bit late and I was already in the “No, I’m not doing this anymore” phase of college.).
In spite of all of this, I’m still frustrated with my timing; college really could have been an outstanding opportunity had I, say, read the sequences a year earlier. Attending college is an incredibly easy way to access resources like labs, equipment, experts and cheap labor (especially if you can turn a project into academic credit, which I totally could have at my college; I would have gotten credit for this terrible virtual series had I just finished the blasted paperwork. (*mumbles something about a RATIONAL! rewrite*)). For example, when it manifested that Senseg might have been overly optimistic with their predictions on getting their tactile technology on shelves early in 2013, I found myself frustrated that the technology is so simple that I could toss together a simple example over an afternoon if I had any of the resources I had since my junior year of high school, but I wound up not learning about this until the cost of going back was way too large for way too small a benefit and my resources had largely dried up.
So I absolutely agree: you can get a college education by only taking courses with Dr. Google. Other professional goals, skills, or structure-based needs might be satisfied by college, but there’s no point in spending thousands of dollars just for the data in the courses.
Other professional goals, skills, or structure-based needs might be satisfied by college,
As you pointed out earlier in your response, Internet learning (and LW in particular) could have been particularly useful before attending college. I would go one step further and suggest that attending college and learning from the internet should not be mutually exclusive for those who are interesting in learning and making a potential college social life trade-off.
I currently believe that most students attending college realize that the degree itself is of primary signalling importance, even if they’re not able to explicitly articulate why.
I would go one step further and suggest that attending college and learning from the internet should not be mutually exclusive for those who are interesting in learning and making a potential college social life trade-off.
I don’t think that college is ideal for social life. If you go to meetups you can meet like minded people whether or not you are in college.
What sealed my decision to spend my last two years of high school at the state Math and Science school instead of the same public high school I’d been attending was the realization that I was learning more from the internet than I was in classes, with the exception of a few chemistry concepts that I never thought of looking up.
When I graduated, I realized that even the Math and Science school didn’t catch up with what I’d learned from the internet until the final semester. I’d still say it was worth it, and I decidedly did not optimize (mostly because I was still thinking of science more as “stuff scientists discovered” than “an insanely useful method that you should pay attention to outside of science fairs”), but college? Not so much. There were benefits, sure (I think the main one Crux left out that I completely failed to even try at is networking with professionals in a broader sense than work experience), but the most important things I learned while at college were things that came entirely from the internet or experiences on holidays. There were quite a few things I stubbornly tried not to believe (mostly things about human psychology) that were thoroughly demolished by the internet (especially when I finally got to LessWrong, but by then it was a bit late and I was already in the “No, I’m not doing this anymore” phase of college.).
In spite of all of this, I’m still frustrated with my timing; college really could have been an outstanding opportunity had I, say, read the sequences a year earlier. Attending college is an incredibly easy way to access resources like labs, equipment, experts and cheap labor (especially if you can turn a project into academic credit, which I totally could have at my college; I would have gotten credit for this terrible virtual series had I just finished the blasted paperwork. (*mumbles something about a RATIONAL! rewrite*)). For example, when it manifested that Senseg might have been overly optimistic with their predictions on getting their tactile technology on shelves early in 2013, I found myself frustrated that the technology is so simple that I could toss together a simple example over an afternoon if I had any of the resources I had since my junior year of high school, but I wound up not learning about this until the cost of going back was way too large for way too small a benefit and my resources had largely dried up.
So I absolutely agree: you can get a college education by only taking courses with Dr. Google. Other professional goals, skills, or structure-based needs might be satisfied by college, but there’s no point in spending thousands of dollars just for the data in the courses.
As you pointed out earlier in your response, Internet learning (and LW in particular) could have been particularly useful before attending college. I would go one step further and suggest that attending college and learning from the internet should not be mutually exclusive for those who are interesting in learning and making a potential college social life trade-off.
I currently believe that most students attending college realize that the degree itself is of primary signalling importance, even if they’re not able to explicitly articulate why.
I don’t think that college is ideal for social life. If you go to meetups you can meet like minded people whether or not you are in college.