Find a job - About Alternative Education

When I was pursuing a computer science degree at Simon Fraser University in B.C., I was enrolled in the most thought-provoking course I had ever taken, Discrete Mathematics 101. If you would like a bit of mental gymnastics in your day, Discrete Mathematics delivers. It's the math of logic, or the logic of math or the math of computing logic... I never did really understand.

Most of the students who walked into this course were coming in there with As and Bs in high school and often even high grades in other courses in their programs. Yet after the first midterm, the class average grade sat at 31%. You might want to re-read that last part. Was the professor doing that poor of a job? No. I like to think he was one of the few who knew how to engage the class and did his best to simplify and explain a topic that might as well have been written in hieroglyphics and explained in sign-language. Yet, there were about 3 individuals out of over 250 who were on the other end of the spectrum. They knew what they were doing.

One in particular. He was hitting 88% and 92% on tests where others were getting 6% and many were hitting 17%. I remember talking to him before class in those first few weeks, as he always sat in front of me. And I recognized his name when it was read out as a top grade on an assignment. Yet, after those first few weeks, I never saw him in class.

Two months later, the midterms were held and I finally saw him. I showed up nearly late so there was no time for chit chat but I saw that he was there. Next day, when midterm grades are announced, there he was again with 92% on the same test that I walked away with 33% (just above average... I'm not sure how I felt about that).

I got to talking to him to find out how the heck he was getting higher marks yet not even showing up. He said the "secret" was in the self education. He used our textbook and a couple of other resources and taught himself at home. When a class assignment was handed out, he downloaded it at home and wrote it up and delivered it in the class drop box. Other than that, he went right back to teaching it all to himself. And he was attaining larger success. Is there a moral to the story? I hope so, otherwise I just wasted a bit of your time.

Not long ago, I was looking through the list of the 500 top billionaires in the world. I must have looked through about 200 of them before my eyes started burning up. I wanted to learn a bit about the profile of each person listed. And it was very common to learn that many of these individuals dropped out of post secondary. And some who did not drop-out, attained success in a completely unrelated field.

Wait a minute! These are some of the most successful businessmen in the world. They are among the strongest financially. They can afford to buy whatever their dreams desire. Many of them are role models to upcoming entrepreneurs. Yet a good portion of them never went to college, dropped out of college or if they graduated, they can’t really credit what they learned in college to their success as it’s completely unrelated.

How could they possibly have accomplished this? Isn't that what school is for? To get you equipped for success? I mean, are we teaching kids to go to college just so they can have an extra piece of paper to put on their wall and stories of dorm keg parties to tell their friends?

Formal education has its place, but it's no secret that formal education will make you a living... self education can however make you a fortune.

The lesson is not in, "don't go to school" but instead it's in realizing that the principles and views taught by public school systems, post secondary and even at your workplace all assist to better have you fit into mediocrity.

Instead start with the two mentioned CDs and study them as you drive around town. Also, review (print) this booklet. And don’t stop there as this is merely all an introduction.