The Age of the Autodidact

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There’s an old adage that says:

“When it comes to parenting it’s not what you say that matters but what you do.”

Now, almost 10 years into the experiment myself, I couldn’t agree more.

While it is hard to describe parenting to someone who is not a parent, much of the journey comes naturally. Whether it’s genetics or heretofore inaccessible memories, somehow you just know what to do. Something I wasn’t ready for or expecting though was the flood of memories from my own childhood that came rushing back from secret reservoirs and chambers. I thought I had lost these memories but they were there alright and just waiting for the right circumstances to bring them forth. Such is the mystery of the mind.

It seems strange to say this but I know a lot more about my own parents now than I did before I had the kids. When I try to see myself through the eyes of my sons, I see my parents through my own instead and I begin to remember. Thankfully, these are recollections of love and happiness, a profound blessing I know not every child gets in life. Thanks Mom and Dad!  

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I’m going to switch gears now but I promise this will all make sense in a minute.

Recently, I’ve come to believe something rather radical about the future of education:

The era of industrialized mass education is dead and a new era has begun, the age of the autodidact.

Why is this on my mind? Well, my boys happen to attend one of the very best elementary schools in the world and I’ve been spending a lot of time there observing and taking notes. Plus, my niece, an exceptionally bright, responsible, and kind young woman, has been going through the college application process this year and talking with her has been eye-opening to say the least. 

Look, I knew the system was messed up but I didn’t know things were this bad! There is absolutely something fundamentally wrong in education today. Things just shouldn’t be this competitive, expensive, unfair, and ineffective. This goes well beyond popular headlines like Trump’s desire to get rid of the Department of Education, Operation Varsity Blues, college campus protests, and the trillion dollars in outstanding student loans. This is about a system designed for another era and serving a need that no longer exists. Except for the lucky few who happen to go to the right schools and happen to be exceptional at a certain kind of learning, the system just doesn’t make any sense. 

When I was at the bookstore the other day with the boys—one of the last remaining in the neighborhood—I had one of those moments I mentioned above and a flood of memories from my childhood came rushing back to me. As I watched the boys excitedly browsing all the shelves, I remembered suddenly all the time I spent with my dad in bookstores over the years—what must have been thousands of hours—and I realized that hidden there in those beautiful memories was a secret truth about what has made me who I am. 

Even though my father worked a demanding job as an engineer and commuted back and forth almost 2 hours a day, he was always, always learning something new. Books were everywhere in our house and over the years, I watched him explore everything from practical matters like the art of investing and computer science, to complex ides in physics, philosophy, and psychology, to esoteric subjects like dream interpretation, lucid dreaming, out of body experiences, astral projection, and Tarot.

I literally cannot remember a time when he wasn’t engaged in some self-imagined and self-constructed course of learning. I think he spent his entire working life listening to tape series on his long drives to and from work—what autodidacts did in the days before smartphones and podcasts. And while other families were watching game after game, we were going to the bookstore. Even to this day at age 80, my father spends all day reading, studying, and reflecting. 

Observing all this day-in and day-out, I learned something really special from my father. While not as important as other things he taught me like love, responsibility, discipline, morality, compassion, and human decency, learning how to be an autodidact has been like a superpower in my life. By the time I was in college I was already reading and studying more outside the class / curriculum than in, and since then, things have only intensified. I’ve lost count of the books I’ve read—thousands for sure—and have consumed an enormous number of lectures and podcasts. I am always learning something new, no matter what’s been going on in my life and career. 

I cannot emphasize enough how important this habit of self-education has been in my own journey. I’m convinced that it is the key to success in the modern era. Look, I didn’t take a single class in school about real estate or entrepreneurship, have no formal on-the-job training yet somehow I’ve managed to learn how to thrive in these fields. This success is absolutely a function of being an autodidact. 

But self-learning is fast becoming more than just the ultimate superpower of the modern age; it is becoming a necessity. As volatile as the last 20-30 years have been, things are poised to be even more so. If you thought the Internet and smartphones were disruptive wait until you see what AI is going to do. I’m half convinced that this is the last generation of kids that is going to go to school at all, at least as they are designed today.

Why go to school to learn mostly how to memorize and read fast—which is what our current paradigm is all about—when you have instant, intelligent access to all recorded human knowledge?

Why spend $400K on a college education when you can learn all the same stuff for free with a cheap phone and an Internet connection?

What’s the value of an expensive credential like an MBA or a JD when you can learn through experience yourself or become an apprentice to someone who actually knows how it all works?

These are questions we cannot ignore. Massive change is coming and it’s coming fast and in the AI future, rapid adaptation is the key to thriving. You have to start thinking of education as something you always do—kind of like your constantly upgrading computer operating system—rather than some distinct, time bound phase of life.

People are already experimenting with new models of schooling using AI tutors and the results are promising. At the same time, new experiential techniques and apprentice programs are gaining popularity. While it’s probably too soon to tell young people to skip out on high school and college, the idea that kids are going to sit in rows and learn a set State-determined curriculum is going the way of the Dodo Bird.

For now, the mission couldn’t be clearer: everyone needs to learn how to become an autodidact. If you want any tips on how to start and where to look, please reply and let me know!

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