Testing out vs. Sitting in class

[Daithi]

I much prefer learning by studying on my own.

When I was in high school (a long time ago) I took a computer programming class because it sounded easier than taking trigonometry, which was my other choice. The first day of class I was completely lost. This was around 1980, and the IBM PC hadn't even been invented yet. Computers hadn't yet become ingrained in our society like they are today, and at the time I had no idea what a computer even did. In my mind it was just a box, kind of like a microwave, that did "something". I knew it didn't cook my food, but that was about all I knew.

I was so completely lost that I went to the library to see if I could find a book that would explain things better than the teacher. I found a nice simple book on BASIC programming and then everything started falling together. To my surprise, I loved programming. I started working on a program that would play Blackjack. I spent hours and hours on this program. While in other classes, like English, I would write programming code into a notebook (paper based) and then during lunch, computer class, and after school I would be in the computer lab typing in my code and working on getting my program working. I struggled with problems and had to figure out how to solve them on my own. I went on to teach myself how to program in Pascal and Assembly Language. I went way beyond the level of the programming teacher. I was REALLY learning.

Since that time I've taught myself other subjects as well. I've taught myself mathematics up to the calculus level. I've taught myself basic electronics. I've taught myself how to play poker at a very high level (I've won several tournaments at Foxwoods). I failed miserably at learning Irish on my own (you can't succeed at everything). I can kick butt when watching Jeopardy or playing Trivial Pursuit. Many of my friends have advanced degrees and I hold my own in conversations quite comfortably. This is all because I've educated myself. I didn't need a classroom and a teacher.

Given a choice between a traditional classroom environment and the CLEP/DSST/etc. route, I'd take CLEP/DSST/etc. every time. The traditional classroom moves way too slow for me. In the traditional environment I do not struggle learning the material. I struggle making it to class on time, learning at the school's schedule, handling conflict with instructors or students (i.e. having a teacher you can't stand or being in a class of kids who don't want to learn). However, CLEP/DSST/etc. is perfect, because I invest the time to learn a subject and all the test provides is a yardstick that measures whether or not I've learned the material.

There are some courses I've taken for my degree that I've passed but will forget most of what I've learned. These courses just didn't interest me (e.g. sociology). On the other hand, there are courses I've taken that I didn't think would interest me but that I enjoyed (e.g. learning poetry for A&I Lit.) and this knowledge will stick with me and is now part of me. This would have been the same outcome if I had taken the course in a classroom or by studying on my own. However, an exceptional teacher might have sparked my interest in a course like sociology, but then again, a great book I read on my own could have done the same. I've also tended to have more lousy teachers than great teachers, and it is a lot easier to switch to a new book than it is to switch teachers.

So the bottom line is that I strongly disagree with the person who thinks that taking CLEP/DSST/etc. exams is inferior to learning in a traditional classroom environment. I believe that REAL learning occurs when you are an active participant in the learning process. You can skate by in a classroom environment, and you cram and pass a CLEP test, but just passing isn't learning. Real learning isn't dependent on a classroom and a teacher, nor is it found in a CLEP test, but it comes from effort that you put in to learn a subject.