I think classes are great given they’re targeting something you want to learn, and you’re not uncommonly self-motivated. They add a lot of structure and force engagement (i.e. homework, problem sets) in a way that’s hard to find time / energy for by yourself. You also get a fair amount of guidance and scaffolding information, plus information presented in a pedagogical order! With a lot of variance due to the skill and time investment of the instructor, size of class and quality of the curriculum etc.
But if you DO happen to be very self-driven, know what you want to learn, and if in a research context if you’re the type of person who is capable of generating novel insights without much guidance, then heck yes classes are inefficient. Even if you’re not all of these things, it certainly seems worth trying to see if you can be, since self-learning is so accessible and one learns a lot by being focusedly confused. I like how neatly presented the above deep dives idea is: it feels like it gives me enough structure to have a handle on it and makes it feel unusually feasible to do.
But yeah, for the people who are best at deep dives, I imagine it’s hard for any class to match, even with how high-variance classes can be :).
This sounds like a great idea and aligns with my growing belief that classes are, more often than not, far from the best way to learn.
I think classes are great given they’re targeting something you want to learn, and you’re not uncommonly self-motivated. They add a lot of structure and force engagement (i.e. homework, problem sets) in a way that’s hard to find time / energy for by yourself. You also get a fair amount of guidance and scaffolding information, plus information presented in a pedagogical order! With a lot of variance due to the skill and time investment of the instructor, size of class and quality of the curriculum etc.
But if you DO happen to be very self-driven, know what you want to learn, and if in a research context if you’re the type of person who is capable of generating novel insights without much guidance, then heck yes classes are inefficient. Even if you’re not all of these things, it certainly seems worth trying to see if you can be, since self-learning is so accessible and one learns a lot by being focusedly confused. I like how neatly presented the above deep dives idea is: it feels like it gives me enough structure to have a handle on it and makes it feel unusually feasible to do.
But yeah, for the people who are best at deep dives, I imagine it’s hard for any class to match, even with how high-variance classes can be :).