Can you learn as much from the Internet as you would get from a college education?

Yes

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by Cynthia Lapena

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What does a college education give us? Learning. The acquisition of knowledge and skills through structured instruction delivered by supposed experts in specific fields or areas in a formal setting. Learning per se is the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Period. Hence, learning can be accomplished with or without structure, with or without teachers, and with or without a formal setting, i.e., the college.

Since its first inception, the Internet has become a massive accumulation of knowledge and information that includes vast resources providing informal instruction for nearly every skill that can be named. The knowledge and information comes from a variety of sources, both credible and incredible, with varying degrees of complexity and authority. It is there for the taking, some for a fee and quite a lot of it for free. One only has to search patiently and use a fine sense of discrimination or simple common sense to determine whether the information is authentic and authoritative.

Experi ence has shown us that what we learn from a college education is usually limited to what the experts know or are able to impart. We can exceed those limits when we are motivated to research, usually on our own. Many experts have been known to withhold information that they do not think their students are ready or able to understand; others have been known to deny the existence of information that contradicts what they know; many have constantly and consistently delivered exactly the same information over several years of teaching regardless of advancements and new knowledge in their fields. Students are at the mercy of their teachers, receiving only what is imparted in class.

Everyone who has spent hours surfing the Internet, whether randomly or purposely, will know that any search they initiate can result in millions of possible links. They can explore a single topic for hours and not exhaust the on-line resources. They can learn how to do just about anything, from cleaning out almost any kind of stain to stripping a rifle and assembling a home-made bomb. They can find views from numerous perspectives on nearly any topic they can think of. They will even find opposing views as well as irrational views. They will be able to assemble a collection of sources from all over the world, including the very same experts who teach in colleges. Better yet, they will be able to find information from more experts than they would ever find in any single academic institution.

If it is merely a question of possibility, then the answer is a resounding YES, you can learn more from the Internet than from a college education because (a) there is more information available; (b) there are more resources of varying levels of expertise; (c) there is more freedom to explore; and (d) there is virtually no limit to the amount of knowledge and information you can assimilate.

How much you learn is a different issue, because that depends on your attitude, interest, persistence, patience, motivation and intent.

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