<story><title>What I Learned In College</title><url>http://blackhole12.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-i-learned-in-college.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jmduke</author><text>I graduated two months ago, and I learned a lot of things, too.&lt;p&gt;I learned that the fastest way I&amp;#x27;ll ever learn a subject (whether or not it&amp;#x27;s a programming language, a financial derivative, or an era of Hinduism) is on my own, poring over search engines and worn-down books.  Professors will never teach me &lt;i&gt;faster&lt;/i&gt; than I can teach myself.&lt;p&gt;I learned that, yes, you&amp;#x27;re more or less paying for the piece of paper (but that doesn&amp;#x27;t mean there isn&amp;#x27;t a lot of other awesome things you get along the way.)&lt;p&gt;I learned that, yes, that piece of paper is quite worth it, no matter how many hip tech companies say they don&amp;#x27;t care about pieces of paper.&lt;p&gt;I learned that there can be infinitely more value in talking to a stranger for fifteen minutes than spending that time browsing Reddit (or playing a video game.)&lt;p&gt;I learned that, despite my protestations otherwise, I honestly do perform best when my outcome is quantified, curved, and compared to other people&amp;#x27;s outcomes.&lt;p&gt;I learned that everyone&amp;#x27;s college experience is wildly unique, too, as I benefitted from professors in both business and computer science classes who always rewarded creativity instead of stifling it.&lt;p&gt;(I don&amp;#x27;t mean to say that I disliked college.  It was the best four years of my life.  But the idea that the undergraduate experience is marvelous and the idea that the undergraduate experience needs a lot of fixing are not necessarily in contention with one another.)</text></comment>
<story><title>What I Learned In College</title><url>http://blackhole12.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-i-learned-in-college.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>10098</author><text>What you learn in college&amp;#x2F;university depends only on yourself. Tests are just the most convenient, unified way to measure students&amp;#x27; progress. There are two ways you can beat tests: one is to train specifically for the test, the other is to actually know the subject.&lt;p&gt;The first way is easier, but leaves you with little residual knowledge, and you don&amp;#x27;t even know how to apply that knowledge. The second way is much harder, and it requires work on your part. However, it pays off. Not only you get to pass the test, you&amp;#x27;re also now armed with useful knowledge.&lt;p&gt;At my time in university, I&amp;#x27;ve taken both approaches towards various subjects. For the algorithms class, I made a lot of effort to study and understand the subject. Today, I still have it in my head, and can apply it when needed. For differential equations, I just studied for the test. I don&amp;#x27;t remember anything now, and it&amp;#x27;s my fault for being lazy. I got an &amp;quot;A&amp;quot; in both subjects, by the way.&lt;p&gt;What I&amp;#x27;m trying to say is, the system is just fine as long as qualified professors are teaching. The problem is lazy students.</text></comment>