OUR VIEW: Seek education without credits
It’s a Monday morning. You’ve stayed up all night hacking out a paper about 15th-century European financial policy. Hitting the final keystrokes at 8:15, you finish just a few minutes before class begins. Rushing out the door, you sprint to campus and slide into a seat with just a few seconds to spare. Three seconds after the paper is collected, your head hits the desk and you’re out for an hour and a half.
There has to be more to our education than this. “Faking it ’til we make it” can only get us so far. While getting a degree is a huge part of this extremely expensive four-year adventure, we’d like to argue that a piece of paper only says so much about us. Somewhere between the excitement of freshman year and graduation, too many students are forgetting what they’re really here for: an education.
On Thursday, an independently-organized TEDx conference came to campus. Speakers from all walks of life took time to talk about becoming educated, not just in a classroom, but in everyday life. The compilation of presenters from around the country, as well as some from USU, helped us to remember that we shouldn’t reserve knowledge for a time slot between 9 and 5. Learning, like any other useful skill, takes practice, time and energy.
The people who get ahead in the world are those who constantly immerse themselves in knowledge. Bill Gates didn’t found Microsoft by sitting in bed all day. Condoleezza Rice didn’t become the first female National Secretary of Defense by watching YouTube videos. They, and most of the people that make the world turn, were self-taught. They found passions and absorbed all the knowledge they could.
Most Statesman editors will say they’ve learned far more in the office, working with writers and dealing the constant problems that plague a student newsroom, than they have in any single class.
For one week, put away “Halo.” Press the pause button on Netflix. Stop vegging on Facebook. We have more access to free education now than we may ever again. We have the ability to check out almost 500,000 books through the library. We can audit classes we’re interested in – but can’t afford to take – at no cost. USU offers free, credit-less classes online through Opencourseware. The options seem endless.
We know it’s not always easy to find time to self-educate, especially at the end of a long day when the TV looks inviting. However, we challenge students to take a few days to explore something new. It may be challenging at first, but we predict the remote control may gather more dust than you would expect.