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I grew up appreciating the value of education. In part, this was via my Jewish upbringing, and in part, this was a family value (not sure how to differentiate the two). I completed university, medical school, graduate school, and more. Over the past several years, the value of formal education has been questioned; dramatically sky-rocketing costs come with less-than-certain benefits. Today, in pandemic times, more so than ever, with formal education reinventing itself, students sitting at home looking at a computer, listening to pre-recorded, “canned” lectures, never meeting their teachers or physically interacting with other students.
With three daughters in university during this pandemic, I have been contemplating the value of this sort of education. Is it worth the many thousands of dollars we spend on a university education? How does this learning compare to what could be achieved by studying on your own? After all, we have access to the internet. Dr. Google knows everything! Are we paying for the university degree or for the university education?
In the distant past, higher education was only available to a select few. However, this did not stop those motivated to learn. They took on the responsibility of educating themselves, becoming autodidacts, even without the use of the internet and at times, even without the use of books.
Here’s a very abbreviated list of some well-known autodidacts. This list is far from being complete. Abraham Lincoln, Hermann Hesse, John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Henry Miller, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, David Hume, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, Ray Bradbury, Vincent van Gogh, David Bowie, Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Quentin Tarantino, Jimi Hendrix, Noel Coward, Henri Rousseau, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Lloyd Wright, Peter Behrens, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Charles Darwin, Blaise Pascal, Galileo Galilei, Moshe Feldenkrais, and Benjamin Franklin. Many painters, musicians, writers, scientists, architects, inventors, directors, and philosophers were self-taught. Many Nobel Prize winners had no formal education. Many people whom we consider geniuses, such as Newton, Einstein, Franklin, Edison, Tesla, Watt, and Faraday, were autodidacts without the benefit of Wikipedia.
The point of this post isn’t to discuss whether or not a formal university education is worth the ticket price. The goal is to delineate the essential qualities and behaviors needed to be a successful autodidact. Even if you are currently attending some sort of formal education—high school, university, or post-graduate—these are attributes that will enhance an otherwise standard education.
Peter Hollins, the author of The Science of Self-Learning and a Clinical Psychologist, describes our current educational system as “top-down” learning—read and regurgitate. Unfortunately, I agree. Hollins describes self-learning as self-directed growth through reflective intellectual curiosity.
In traditional, formal education, knowledge is transferred to a willing recipient. As an autodidact, knowledge is searched for, seized, accessed, integrated, assimilated, and put to good use by an active participant. Here are some common autodidactic traits which I refer to as A+9Cs:
1. Accountable
This is an essential ingredient for almost any novel venture. Stephen Covey’s "First Habit" and my first "Key to Achieve." Being an autodidact is not easy and will not happen without you taking an active role and acknowledging that you and you alone are responsible for your success.
2. Charged
Autodidacts are charged in the sense that they are motivated and driven. As in a psychologic flow state, self-learning is not done for the sake of external rewards. It is based on passion and a love for learning much about certain subject matters. Learning is its own reward, and this becomes a driving force to continue the process during times when access to information or lack of time may make it extremely challenging.
3. Confident
You must believe in your ability to gain and synthesize knowledge. Don’t take this step for granted. Without confidence, you will get discouraged and not continue.
4. Controlled
The process of self-learning is active and requires not just focus (which is needed in all education) but self-discipline. There are no required times, books, assignments, or homework other than what you give to yourself.
5. Committed
Understand that the goal is not to achieve a grade, pass an examination, or complete a course. Autodidacts are committed to gaining a deeper level of understanding and acquire knowledge to enrich the mind and better themselves.
This is where being a lifelong learner is different from being an autodidact. The lifelong learner has a goal to continue to gain some knowledge about many topics throughout their lives. The autodidact delves deeply into a subject upon which they have a deep passion and desire to learn as much as possible. This is what makes it easier to maintain a high level of commitment.
6. Conscientious
The more you begin with self-examination and choosing the subject matter based on one of your core values, the more meaningful will be the information. Knowing yourself and what drives you will facilitate incorporating the knowledge. Moving the data from your short-term memory to long-term stores will be enhanced by the deep-seated meaning you can place on what you are learning. Obtaining knowledge based on your values creates a passion-based drive and makes it easier to go on this journey.
7. Curious
Acquiring new knowledge necessitates you not only actively seek the information but also look for ways in which you personally best learn.
8. Creative
Autodidacts are not given a syllabus. They create the lesson plan and develop a way to synthesize the information with other data garnered through traditional didactics or experientially. Thinking out of the box can help with both the acquisition and integration of new information.
9. Courageous
Often not appreciated about autodidacts is the courage that it takes to go beyond the expected and the traditional. To venture out and actively pursue information rather than wait until it is handed to you takes a fighting spirit. To go the road less traveled, to drop out of college and pursue a “different” journey, is not an easy task.
10. Critical
Not everything written is worthy of being learned or incorporated into your memory banks (including what I’m writing now). The autodidact must critically evaluate what they are going to read, what they are reading, and what they have read to assimilate the knowledge into useful information. This is what helps make the process an active engagement.
In today’s society, we are more apt to have at least one change in career. To adequately prepare for this, we must be flexible, adapt, and re-educate as efficiently and effectively as possible. As Dr. Seuss stated, “You can get help from teachers, but you’re going to have to learn a lot by yourself sitting alone in a room.”
It has been said that learning can only occur when the desire, the will, and the opportunity to learn all come together. For the vast majority, there is always the opportunity. We need to look inside to find the motivation and the drive to make it happen.
I hope you are doing well and, even better, doing good.
References
Peter Hollins, The Science of Self-Learning: How to Teach Yourself Anything, Learn More in Less Time, and Direct Your Own Education. Kindle Edition, 2018.
Stephen Covey. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon & Schuster, 2020.
Dr. Seuss, On Becoming a writer. NY Times, May, 1986.
