<p>so i have been trying to sort out this idea in my head for the past few days, and i thought i'd see if anyone here has some insight.</p>
<p>i'm not trying to figure out "do i really need to go to college?" or "should i drop out and just read?" i'm already at a university, well on my way towards a degree, which i'm happy about.</p>
<p>the way that my degree program is structured does not leave much time for classes extraneous to my degree (with wanting to graduate in four years), which is unfortunate. so i'm wondering how much more does one take away from a college class that one could not get on his or her own?</p>
<p>i'm talking mostly about the humanities here, and in a sense of becoming knowledgeable and well-rounded, not necessarily a preparation for graduate studies or something else intensive like that. </p>
<p>my thinking is that, most likely anything the professor might discuss in a lecture, or comment students might contribute, probably appears in a book somewhere (critical essays on literature, history books, philosophy books). and with the internet, there are plenty of places, such as this forum, that major works can be discussed, or perhaps this can be accomplished through an enlightened conversation with a group of friends.</p>
<p>so the only thing i can think of that a college course could provide, that could not be learned elsewhere, is feedback on writing skills.</p>
<p>Read a book, read a book, read a mother*<strong><em>ing book
r-e-a-d–a-bo-okaaaaay
r-e-a-d–a-bo-okaaaaay
not a sports page (what?)
not a maga-zine (who?)
but a book ■■■■■
a *</em></strong>ing book, ■■■■■</p>
<p>I taught myself calculus over the course of a half year. It would have taken me a full year or two to get to that level in a conventional classroom. I learned the basics of economy simply from reading and my own person research.</p>
<p>It depends on how quickly you master the material and how much time and effort you put into it. When I was teaching myself calculus, I was no in school so I spent somewhere around two hours a day learning and practicing. It is harder to do this now that I have school obligations. </p>
<p>A nice thing about teaching yourself is that you don’t have to wait for the rest of the class to be on the same page and you don’t have to exert yourself into meaningless essays and practice.</p>
<p>The only nice thing about learning in a college classroom is that you have more instruction to fit your learning style (some people can’t learn simply by reading a book) and you have a professor to answer questions that stump you.</p>
<p>this semester for instance, i’m taking an african history class, an art history class, a philosophy of art class, and an english critical writing class. it seems like most of what my professors lecture on are what’s written in the assigned textbooks. and i would guess that the comments they append to the material from the textbook are written and published somewhere, either by them or someone else.</p>
<p>if this is the case, which i don’t know, that’s why i’m asking, and assuming the person has a decent intellect, and capacity and motivation to learn through reading, i’m not sure what the benefit in taking an art history class (for example) at a university is?</p>