[ExI] University degrees (in response to Emlyn)

[Spencer Campbell]

2010-01-16 Tom Nowell <nebathenemi at yahoo.co.uk>:
> In our modern age, where colossal numbers of books are available and huge amounts of information online, can we educate ourselves easily? Or do we once again find that we only value what is paid for?

It's a false dichotomy. Unless you mean the value one places on one's
own education, but that isn't the impression I get. There seem to be
two questions embedded and entangled within this one:

"Is it possible right now to keep educational pace with students
autodidactically?"
and
"Is it possible right now to keep academic pace with students autodidactically?"

This is probably a confusing distinction for most people. Schooling is
not education, and education is not schooling. I thought that way
before I read John Holt, and I think that way all the more now. As my
academic career consists of all of three days of preschool, you can
safely consider me biased in this area.

So, for what it's worth: I can run circles around your average college
or university student when it comes to just about any subject except
the one they're cramming at the moment. Of course people can educate
themselves, given the resources. The only question is whether or not
that education counts.

It's an absurd and despicable question, but I won't deny that it's
valid. I have no credentials whatsoever. If I want a good job, I have
to create it myself from scratch. It's either that or prove my
competence to someone in a position to get me into a position to put
someone into a position to get me into a position to...

Sorry, infinite recursion. It's either that or I have to ingratiate
myself to some higher-ups. A very touch-and-go, needlessly
dehumanizing prospect. I would much rather devote my time toward
giving the local green party enough intellectual muscle to uproot the
economy for 10 km in every direction. Afterward, maybe more delicate
species such as myself will have a chance.