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Comment by xkemp | Hacker News Reader

I'm entirely self-taught and can entirely understand wanting that belief to be true, but it just isn't. A university can give you so much more than just learning some programming language. At the very least, it's going to force you to dabble in some languages you wouldn't ordinarily touch. The same obviously goes for theory.

Assuming there are at least some things that require a minimum effort that is uncomfortable before allowing you to see their benefits, you will discover more guided by qualified people and well-designed curricula than on your own.

Then, there are the people: from my experience especially with Ivy-League faculty, these schools seem to do something right. Remember that one teacher from school that really got you into (reading shakespeare/track/organic chemistry)? Yeah, they aren't all like that, but a rather significant number seems to be.

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> Assuming there are at least some things that require a minimum effort that is uncomfortable before allowing you to see their benefits, you will discover more guided by qualified people and well-designed curricula than on your own.

Perhaps, but sitting in the lecture hall isn't the only way you can get thorough instruction from professionals. Books exist, and they don't suffer from the same monetary, timing, and pacing issues that classrooms do.

The primary historical disadvantage of books- that they weren't interactive and you therefore couldn't get help if stuck- is no longer an issue with the internet. It's possible that the internet is too disorganized and low-quality to be one's primary teacher, but its amazing supplementary value makes other media tenable.

Those are my anecdotal opinions, anyway. But I'm curious, what do you think physical teachers have to offer that Books/Online Courses/Podcasts/Whatever + The Internet don't?

I think that structure, accountability, and community are the big draws towards school. For young people I think that these are extremely important- when I was in school- taking 6 classes meant I spent a roughly 40 hour work week on school stuff. I had a really hard time doing half of those hours when I wasnt in school.

Obviously that's more of a me issue than an issue inherent to self-learning, but many of us have me issues.

If you're not the type of person who would benefit from structure and community- the value proposition clearly doesn't make sense. Even if you would benefit from those things- the value proposition isnt clear at all- its tremendously expensive.

I guess part of "community" is your peer group, but also access to an authority to whom you can address questions (that won't leave you hanging, most of the time).

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