Many -- if not most -- people think you need to go to a school to learn and make something of yourself. We first "need" to go through the 12-step program of education (indoctrination) into various topics that prepare us to be productive cogs in the larger system. Then we are expected to go to college or university to further learn a specific topic in order to do that for a living, for life.

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<em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/8506636899">Source</a></em>
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I'm not saying many of these topics aren't useful, such as learning how to count and use numbers abstractly, learning how to use language and write better, or learning how to do other things. But people have found other ways. Homeschooling allows a more efficient learning of the rote topics to be memorized for passing tests.

Children then have more time to pursue their own interests in a specific topics they like, or go after many different topics to satisfy their learning desires. They aren't constricted to specific times to begin classes, and being slowed down by the slow course development or teachers. They can accelerate at their own pace and get through things quicker, and learn better.

If you ask regular people who have gone the systematized way of learning in educational institutions, they think that's who you have to learn something. If you want to be like X person who was an expert in field Y, then you need to go to a higher learning center to learn it. That's the standard answer.

While there, if you challenge the dogmatic orthodoxy of a field that might have something wrong, then you can likely fail, and their goes your dreams to succeed within the systematic institutional process. So, keep your head down, get into a highly respected program, and then down the line you can get appreciated for being so knowledgeable in the field. If you work in a scholarly field, you can get tenure and secure your position. Then you can start talking against the falsities that others become entrenched in protecting.

That seems rather sad to wait so long and gain the respect and authority to speak freely on subjects in your field. All that time just o get a piece of paper from corrupt institutions and risk becoming the thing you tried to avoid becoming. A better strategy is possible, where you don't have to worry about upsetting the apple carts of the academic system. You can learn on your own. You can be autodidactic (self-taught).

Many people can't imagine going any other way than through academia. Alternatives exist that people don't know about. If they become aware, they could advance in topic they want to be an expert in, without the academic structure pigeon-holing them. There is no need to please your teachers or get permission from an institution to move forward in your learning.

We have the Internet now, with loads of information available for you to learn from. Start a blog and talk about the topic. Post your notes on a topic you research. Read and talk more about it. Watch videos and talk more about it. Go interact and comment on the works of others to talk about it. Create a YouTube channel and talk about it there. Make a podcast to share what you know. You can amass some works and self-publish a book as an e-book. Consume the information that is out there, and become an expert yourself.

Instead of following the old way, try to think of how you can go a new way: your own way. You don't need to play the game of the existing authorities to get their approval to become the next expert in a topic or field. Follow your goals, objectives and the end you want to achieve, and worry less about the specific means and path that others have used before. You can become good at something by finding the best way to do be good at it. Learning is a process.

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