I think this perception, and the ever-present debate surrounding it, really boils down to the differences between structured and self-driven learning.
Structured learning tends to be methodical, thorough, and slow. You proceed chapter by chapter, book by book, building knowledge on top of knowledge. It's good for establishing a foundation, or for pushing you through dull but potentially useful topics, but because you must stick to the track, it doesn't give you much leeway to follow up on bursts of inspiration.
Self-directed learning, in contrast, tends to be patchy and undisciplined, but it crucially allows one to harness and follow those winds of inspiration when they blow, and that offers incredible benefits for motivation and retention.
Structured learning provides a syllabus and a schedule to ensure that you fill in the gaps. Learning when touched by the muse makes you yearn to fill in the gaps, yearn to reach the next level of understanding.
"I could teach myself more in an afternoon than I would learn in a 10-week class."
This psychological shift is what self-learners are referring to when they make such claims. They aren't saying that they can literally get through 10 weeks of coursework in an afternoon, they're saying that being allowed to take their own path through a subject and approach it in a way that truly motivates and inspires them makes them potentially orders of magnitude more effective as learners.
Structured learning tends to be methodical, thorough, and slow. You proceed chapter by chapter, book by book, building knowledge on top of knowledge. It's good for establishing a foundation, or for pushing you through dull but potentially useful topics, but because you must stick to the track, it doesn't give you much leeway to follow up on bursts of inspiration.
Self-directed learning, in contrast, tends to be patchy and undisciplined, but it crucially allows one to harness and follow those winds of inspiration when they blow, and that offers incredible benefits for motivation and retention.
Structured learning provides a syllabus and a schedule to ensure that you fill in the gaps. Learning when touched by the muse makes you yearn to fill in the gaps, yearn to reach the next level of understanding.
"I could teach myself more in an afternoon than I would learn in a 10-week class."
This psychological shift is what self-learners are referring to when they make such claims. They aren't saying that they can literally get through 10 weeks of coursework in an afternoon, they're saying that being allowed to take their own path through a subject and approach it in a way that truly motivates and inspires them makes them potentially orders of magnitude more effective as learners.