Formal Education vs. Self-Education

When a degree is a mere piece of paper and costs a substantial amount to acquire (often without any real promise of a job attached to it) one begins to wonder if formal education is a waste of time and money.

It is not, not for everybody. For some people formal education is good but self-education is a must for everybody. You cannot rise in life without being a learner everyday.

A formal education also grants one the privilege of being able to sustain oneself on this planet. The right degree from the right college will help you pay your bills and fulfill all your basic needs, maybe even more.

But self-education is what will decide how far you will go and the rate of your learning will be directly proportional to the rate of your growth as a person, as a professional, as a human.

Formal Education vs. Self-Education

The Combination Approach

After making tonnes of mistakes and switching between several jobs over the last few years, I realised something. The best approach is to combine the two. 

1) Formal Education that leads to a job must be taken up for practical purposes, but this too needs to be tailored as per your own inclinations. Formal education still remains an optional choice. 

2) Self-education must be started so that you can move towards your 'dream career' and in the process create your 'dream job in case it doesn't already exist. For those who are satisfied with a formal education and what it entails, those who can live with taking orders and doing as directed, need not worry. 

Self-education is a must for the dreamers, the creators, the people who can see things as they should be and it kills them to see what they are actually. The people who want to change things and direct that change need to invest heavily in self-education. 

Everyone benefits from self-education, actually psychologically this is the only way we learn. Your teacher did not teach you Mathematics, you did. Your own diligence, practice and curiosity is what taught your brain to solve those sums. 

This is compulsory in my opinion. Do not depend on formal education alone. If possible finish your formal education by 15 years of age and from then onwards rely solely on self-education. 

I say this because the goal of formal education is employment and for that basic reading, writing, arithmetic is enough along with some common sense and communication skills. 

And  in terms of return on investment for and employment 15 years of formal education is more than sufficient. In case you have the privilege of being born in a wealthy house then by all means continue further your labor of love but always remember that formal education of the higher level is a luxury, an unnecessary luxury. 

Let experiences be your guide and let your inner voice be the compass. 

How to get the most out of life: 

1) Career Path

What is the thing that you want most in life ? Plan accordingly and follow it through. No matter what. 

2) Personal Mentor

A personl mentor will guide you through all the confusing times and will believe in you long after you have given up on yourself. This can be a real or an imaginary person who uplifts you and does not want anything from you. His welfare is not linked in any way to your career progress, he is merely an impartial observer of your life. Only this person deserves to be your true mentor. 

3) Multiple Sources of Income

Combining formal education with self-education will accelerate your career progress and you can generate income from more than one source. It is not wise to depend on things because things are most definitely uncertain. People who cry after they have lost their jobs are those think they cannot do anything else. 

A wise person in a crisis would be able to deal with life's uncertainties because life's joys do not lie in its stability but in its unpredictability and the new things that constantly catch our fancy. 

4) Freedom and Structure

Formal education will keep you educated enough to sound like a refined person, worthy of being promoted in life. Self-education is what will keep you going when everything around you is falling apart. 

Combine the two and you have the perfect balance of freedom and structure. You will never go hungry and you will never be bored or disenchanted with your life. This is a juggling act because life is a juggle, between personal life and work life, between the easy thing and the right thing, between the lazy thing and the hard thing, between the mundane and the awesome. 

You have abundance of time, abundance of curiosity and something that will definitely catch your fancy so go ahead and  do it all. Juggle, take on more than you can, learn and apply till you become the master of the things you love doing. Everything you learn will help you in one way or the other. 

- TCM.