Not everyone can afford going to college, but everyone can afford learning. Sources of information, educational videos, audio and printed materials can be obtained from many places, either your local public library or an Internet Archive. It is important to have an aspiration to learn. While the people around you may not respect your self-educated knowledge, learning can be incredibly satisfying; the advantage of learning something on your own means that you can lead conversations on many subjects and that you have control over your thoughts. Becoming self-educated requires a great discipline. It also requires the ability to learn on your own. Here are some tips how to educate yourself without even stepping into a school.
1.
Read a book
Without a doubt this is one of the best ways to learn a new subject. If you are entirely unaware of the topic or if you think it might be interesting, take a simpler book and start with it. Controversial books may also be helpful for motivating you to learn more. Getting angry or passionate over the author’s opinion makes you willing to learn more about the topic and to provide more arguments against it.
2.
Find a mentor
With a mentor, you are more likely to keep up with a subject because someone is helping you along. Especially, if you are a person with a sense of responsibility, you will feel uneasy not to be prepared for a lesson. A mentor will save your time to guide you to the best sources, will answer your questions and chat with you on the subject. It is important to find a mentor who is encouraging and respectful. Of course, you don’t want this person to take control of your education, he or she should be guiding and encouraging you.
3.
Become a tourist
It is always interesting to explore history, when and what happened. Go to a science or natural history museum, visiting an author’s home also helps to get more knowledge and to make the author and his work more real. An annual pass to one place is a good way to memorize all the information in that location.
4.
Read Wikipedia or Google it
Searching information in Wikipedia or Google is a great source to learn about the topic you are interested in it. They give you an exhaustive information about anything you type in. So keep reading and if you find something interesting and you want to explore more, just Google it or type in Wikipedia.
5.
Watch educational TV channels
These days most of the TV channels are loaded with talk and entertainment shows, which might not be interesting to you if you are really motivated to indulge yourself in self-learning. But the educational TV channel is just the right one. You can even rent or borrow a video if there is nothing on TV about the topic you are interested in learning.
6.
Take free classes online.
Many universities offer free videotaping of their professors and putting the classes online. Watching these videos, will give all benefits of going to class without actual attending and without the tests and grades or the inconvenience of a schedule. The biggest advantage is that it is free.
7.
Public Libraries
The local public library is probably one of the most invaluable resources for those people who are committed to self-learning. The public library provides not only the books, DVD and CD-s, but it also provides access to growing collections of online and digital resources. Libraries mostly offer a quiet atmosphere where you can read a book or do some research and the best part, you have a luxury of using the service of a librarian who will answer your questions.
Arrange by Julius Choudhury
