Ask HN: Which uni course/school/subjects cannot simply be self-learned?
Assuming a "100y-ltr utopia" where there's accessible online textbooks and resources for everything, Which course/school/subject would still be non-optional and worth taking?
[Given an extremely skilled/determined autodidact.] [For obtaining knowledge instead of license.]
Antiexamples: programming, maths (eg Ramanujan), law, philosophy.
16 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 175 ms ] threadYou cannot self-learn medicine. I mean: you could but then you couldn't legally help anybody.
From the OP
As you state autodidactism, you might view knowledge as absolute and measurable. I'd posit it might not always be, and you'd miss some social aspect be that feedback to socially constructing knowledge - as well as obviously only construct knowledge within yourself and not within and among others which would be a social form of knowledge - you might not need a school for this, but by definition a form of social environment.
[Feedback as both (and also separately) an accelerant to individual learning, and choosing paths of interest, is a different thing, and perhaps also worth exploring.]
Self defense
First aid
Shop
Senior projects (group work) where workload is- intentionally or unintentionally- asymmetrical.
I wouldn't care how my surgeon learned, so long as he was currently the best surgeon I could find.
Think woodworking, martial arts? Many more I'm sure.
I don't think this will be a very big list, though. You should be able to learn almost anything these days. I don't feel inhibited by anything except the sheer depth of some topics, and lack of my own time. I pretty much feel like I can learn anything.
Almost any topic can benefit from a good instructor, though, especially if it's one-on-one. They can steer you better than you can steer yourself as a newbie.
Is there a purpose behind this question beyond curiosity?
(Assuming you are Forced to take one uni course; after which you are Forced to take no more)
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re "martial arts"; btw which unis [2023-2035] sell martial art courses?
re "martial arts", let me google that for you: https://kungfukingdom.com/us-colleges-offering-a-martial-art...
(I admittedly lost the 'uni' bit in my response)