Only the lazy is not talking about life-long education today. And units begin to follow the paradigm of “lifelong education”. Why?
“Let us discover that in most cases teaching does not require any teaching and can be neither organized nor planned. Each of us is personally responsible for his own release from school, and only he can do it "
- Ivan Illich Austrian philosopher and social critic
A week ago, a friend of mine from Delhi took a trip through the villages to collect examples of traditional music that differs so much from region to region. Students of the alternative university Swaraj University spend 6 months each year as “apprentices” with professionals of the business they want to learn - they find them on their own, live and work side by side with these people.
On the highway near the village of Tanzybey in Khakassia, Natalya Aleksandrovna sells Siberian herbs, teas and broths. I think she knows more about this than anyone I've met in my life. She started herbalism about 5 years ago from scratch: she began to read a huge number of books and articles, learned from an old herbalist from another village, and most importantly, she constantly tried and experimented.
At the Hillhacks "anti-conference" I met a professional programmer who was not talking about using Arduino, but about his experience in "living zoology" - for the last year he has been observing primates in their natural habitat (although it is very difficult to get this job) ...
A friend of mine from Germany enrolled in the theology department for a master's degree, although he once completed a college degree in financial management. This time he came to the university for specific people and specific knowledge that he can get only there.
What do these people have in common? Different destinies, different professions (or nonprofessions), different countries, characters, material opportunities. But each of them learns in an unusual way for us - independently organizing their own education. This is what I call self-education practices.
You know, this is the fifth version of the introduction of this article. In all the previous ones, I kept digging into the history of the phenomenon of self-education, its significance in personality psychology, methodology or the context of modern economics and the world of professions. It would be boring for most.
And I definitely want to write this text not for the pedagogical community, but for all of us. After all, the essence of self-education lies precisely in the fact that it is not the teachers who create it for us, but we all do it for ourselves.
It would seem that everything starts with a single question - "Why is it needed?" For most of my educational activities, I have helped people - teens and adults - find their own why. Then the energy of one's own meaningful motivation will itself lead to the path of self-education. In general, it is so. But now let's try to take a step from the other side.
Everyone has something to start with. Maybe you already have a business that you would like to devote your whole life to, or maybe you are just trying something new. Perhaps you are at a crossroads early in your career, or you want to rebuild your lifestyle but don't see a way. What we need is whatever goal we need to learn to achieve. There is no correct answer, find yours. It can be something for pleasure (“I always wanted to learn to embroider”) or professional activity (“to master psychology”); it can be knowledge (specific information), understanding, skill, competence, personal quality, spiritual growth. Maybe you dream of playing the guitar, although you have never held an instrument in your hands, or maybe you want to make a qualitative leap in your professional musical activity. Perhaps, you want to understand quantum mechanics or run your first marathon. Develop mobile applications, sculpt from clay, pump up your memory, learn a language or find the meaning of life.
It can really be anything that you think is important to "put into the image of yourself." Have you come up with it? Then here's a secret for you: you can do all this by organizing your education on your own. And at this moment, after a 10-second pause, usually begins: "Yes, but ...". Okay, let's get started with some of the most common misconceptions that stop us.
MY AGE IS NOT SUITABLE FOR SELF-EDUCATION
There are two variations: either "I am not yet ..." or "I am not ...". Let's be honest: yes, a child growing up in a bilingual environment needs almost no effort to master a second language, but an adult is quite capable of learning it. Yes, "putting your fingers" at the age of 3, you make another step towards the future of a great musician (and in 90% of cases kill the motivation for music for the rest of your life), but all four The Beatles did not hold a guitar in their school years.
And vice versa - even if the family / society considers itself entitled to tell you what you owe to learn due to age, you can learn what you want. I know a woman who, being a lifelong art critic, studied carving at the age of 65 and started her own business. I also have a friend, a teenager, who, since the age of 15, understands pedagogy and teaches TRIZ at school.
NEW YOU CAN STUDY ONLY AT SCHOOL / UNIVERSITY
This argument works even when people talk about "life-long learning" (and not only lazy people talk about it today). Just look at all the people you know. Surely at least 2/3 of them do not work in their specialty. Are they good specialists? School and university supposedly provide a basic picture of the world and form thinking skills. They often don't do that either.
Let's better work with what is in ourselves. We all know examples of successful people who have not graduated from college (Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Paul Allen - Silicon Valley is teeming with these stories). Having rummaged in your memory, you will probably remember examples among your friends.
I had a chance to communicate with teenagers-unschoolers who never went to school - and they were some of the most erudite guys I know. And I myself, having left the university in order not to follow the hypocritical substitution of a diploma for education, formed 99% of my education outside of formal institutions.
I am not urging you to urgently leave schools and universities. But let's face it: if admission to these establishments were not considered mandatory / obvious at the mass level, they would be needed in significantly fewer cases. Would you really need them?
Secretly: at the beginning of December 2016, a group of educators, having gathered in Riga, developed a model of a fundamentally new "University 4.0" for a new world. It turned out that he will have a very specific role associated with a special level of collaboration and collective systems thinking necessary to solve complex problems. People will come there with a clear request for exactly this. And today's functions
higher education (vocational training and "environment", professors as holders of knowledge) is much more effective to carry out oneself.
In general, whether you are in an educational institution now or have already graduated, remember that most of the education has not remained inside the universities, but is waiting for you outside.
NO MONEY AND TIME FOR SELF-EDUCATION
Most often this is a projection of a previous thought, when the university is long gone. “I would have learned this, but I have to sign up for courses. I don't have money for them, it will take all the time, which means we need to pause in our professional activities ... ”.
What are courses? Someone has put together resources for you that they think will help you learn, and they have charged you with a fee. But in most cases, you can reach these resources yourself. For example, language schools often boast of communication with “native speakers” and conversation clubs; although in any city (not only in the capital - I, for example, from Krasnoyarsk) do not count the opportunities to communicate with foreigners: shelter a traveler on couchsurfing.com , go to open meetings at universities, become a volunteer at an event with foreigners ...
And also, getting rid of the course paradigm, you will be able to educate yourself without breaking out of your activity, but saturating it - whether you are an entrepreneur, freelancer or working for hire. In the latter case, offer your employer a plan according to which you will shape your training and test the results at work (otherwise, why study at all?). An adequate leader will definitely support you (otherwise, a big question arises about further development within this company, but this is a separate conversation).
In general, as is the case with universities: sometimes courses are really the best option. But definitely not the only one.
SELF-EDUCATION IS READING ARTICLES ON THE INTERNET. YOU CAN'T LEARN SO MUCH
Another popular variation: "Would you like to be operated on by a surgeon who learned from YouTube videos?" Indeed, online education has its limits. In most cases, in a virtual environment you will not be able to get an internship (the obvious exception is when the activity itself takes place in a digital environment: programmers, designers, bloggers); the quality of interaction with other people cannot be compared with the physical presence (although it is much more comfortable for someone); and in addition, the Internet will definitely dump on you a bunch of unnecessary, unfiltered, often just false information.
I do not think that all this will fundamentally change even with the advent of a more advanced AI and another jump in computer performance. And yet, even knowing all this, you can take a lot from online for your learning. To do this, however, you have to learn how to effectively use the Internet as a resource (however, this is true for all self-education).
And most importantly - no, self-education is still not limited to online. You can find even more variety. The Internet is one (albeit very effective) way to learn. One of many.
SELF-EDUCATION IS EXPENSIVE
Perhaps this habit has been going on since school (“self-education = tutors = expensive”). In many countries, this is associated with insanely expensive higher education. In general, in a world where you have to pay for everything, we are used to the high prices that "professional teachers" will expose.
No illusion: compared to shareware institutional education (which, in fact, is already paid for by our taxes) - yes, you have to use your resources. But, believe me, today you don't have to be a millionaire to educate yourself. For the past six months, I have spent the last six months wandering India, attending alternative schools, educational projects, farms and communities, and it has been one of the deepest, transformative educational experiences of my life. And I spent these six months without money, finding how I could be useful to people, and getting help in return.
Actually, in my experience there was very little money paid "for a clean education": almost always it was an investment in my own education as part of the work I was doing - so you immediately get a return, forcing the financial flow to work for you. By and large (returning to the point about universities and courses), I saved a lot of money by taking on the function of organizing the educational process, which is what we pay institutions for. And it turned out much more efficiently.
The Khan Academy project at the beginning of its journey declared its mission to make good education accessible to everyone. It is difficult to say what their merit is, but this is the world today; in it, education is truly accessible to everyone. You just need to start looking for it yourself.
SELF-EDUCATION IS WITHOUT A TEACHER. I often need someone to help
In many cases, we really need a teacher: a master of his craft, a mentor, or just a person who kicks in a moment of laziness and supports in difficulties. And you may well find such a person.
Yes, self-education can be with a teacher. The difference will be that it will be one of the pieces of the education mosaic that you put together. In general, self-education is not about “going to the mountains” and doing it alone. For me, the most important factors were the people with whom and with whom I studied. But finding / creating such an environment will be in your hands.
SELF-EDUCATION IS VERY SELFISH
This is an argument from many educators. The most important quality of self-education is the student's independent choice. But the criteria for this choice can be very different: from a simple desire to make money on their skills to taking into account the needs of an important circle of people. This circle can be a family, an organization, a city, a country, humanity, or the entire planet.
In India, I have been to places where people build their educational routes based on the needs of the community. For me, all progress in pedagogy is dictated by the need to better serve people. But the general compulsory program based on the mythical needs of society and created by "bright minds" is unlikely to lead to a sincere desire to take care of the welfare of another. You must first allow yourself to be yourself in order to think about those around you.
