5 Reasons to Learn Instead of Getting an “Education”

How to avoid the trap of dogmatism and keep your curiosity

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

You may think I’m debating semantics here, but actually, I see a wide gulf between the ideas of learning and education. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say, here and now, that with the absence of actual learning at so many “institutes of higher education” society as a whole is starting to realize the vast difference between learning and education. So, without further elaboration up front, here’s my list of five reasons why learning is better than getting an education.

1. Learning is self-motivated, education is other-motivated.

Learning, whether we’re talking about a language, a skill, or a new set of ideas, is always motivated by some desire to better ourselves, to achieve something new or to understand something in a new way. Education, by contrast, is imparted to you by someone else. Education is something someone else thinks you should have, and your role in education is passive.

2. Learning is broad and deep, education is just deep (and sometimes not even that!)

Learning encompasses the whole range of knowledge. Think of the great minds of the past…