The Price of Knowledge: To Pay or Not to Pay for Online Courses?
The majority of people who are selling you a course aren't doing it out of your best interest. They are selling you their course to make money, not to further your career. Don't get me wrong; there might be some good information in that same course. But 90% of any course online can be obtained for free on the internet. YouTube, OpenCourseWare, Khan Academy, Coursera, Gutenberg, Google Books, to name a few. So why would you buy one?
I have recently obtained a few online courses and found them to be the least bit helpful. Not because of the information in them, but because I already know the information from reading and watching YouTube videos on the very topic. All the exchange of money did was make me feel like I needed to get my money's worth. By forcing myself to watch and read those courses. In reality, possibly 98% of it I didn't learn new information but reinforced what I already knew.
The main thing I have gotten from courses, if they are well-produced and filmed/edited, is, well, I consider them a form of entertainment with education sprinkled in. The best course I have ever spent money on has to be the Magnum course; the MasterClass courses not so much. I didn't learn anything that I could have gotten off YouTube for free.
Another argument could be that online courses save you time trolling through the vastness of the internet. And that, I would say, is worth it if your time is expensive. Courses can save time by providing structured and curated content. But if the majority of courses are just products to generate income for the creators, what should someone do to educate oneself?
I would say the timeless form of education is still the book. The written word or the printed photo. The second-best education I have ever received was from books. The third-best education I have ever got was from apprenticeships. The first-best education I have ever got was doing it myself and failing at it until I got it right. Some individuals thrive in self-directed learning environments, while others benefit from structured courses or mentorship. The key is understanding one's learning style and preferences.
Knowing this, I ask you, why are you buying that course? What can't you get from it by trying and failing at it yourself? You might say that the very fact that once you know the technique, task, skill, you will not fail; that is the whole point. But I would say, do we ever laugh at a child falling over learning to walk? Do we ever say to them, 'You are stupid, a fool, and they should take a course so they don't fail again trying to take a step'? No, we don't; we encourage them, we let them pick themselves back up and watch them fail time and time again until they start getting it.
Sure, you might not be perfect at first, but where is the journey in going from never done before to perfection? It doesn't exist, and we are fooling ourselves if we think that a single course you pay for will accelerate ourselves to success. Knowledge is power, but it's only powerful when you use it. Knowing how to take a photograph is great, but taking a thousand different photographs will teach you far more than an online course.
When you have to pay for something, you're buying a product. When you get it for free, you are normally the product. So where is the middle ground? It's when you do it yourself, make it for yourself, learn it through doing. That is when you are the creator and the student.
Remember, the best way to learn, not the quickest but the best, is through doing it yourself and failing, getting back up and trying again, and again while learning from your past failures until you reach mastery. The second best is through books, condensed knowledge printed on a page. The third is through watching others. So what do you want to do, watch others, or do it yourself?
In saying all this, I also want to mention that I support 100% in taking a workshop or course from someone that is doing what you want to achieve in your career over college or university. In contrast, instead of being taught by someone you admire, you are being taught by someone that isn’t live or doing what you aspire to be. So, in hindsight, just be careful what you spend your money on. And if that money is going towards education, think hard and long about what you will benefit from it. Because there are a plethora of ways to learn and get an education that don't require spending money or getting into debt. Ultimately, the choice between taking a course and self-directed learning depends on the individual's goals, preferences, and resources. Some may find value in the structure and guidance that a well-designed course provides, while others may prefer the autonomy and experiential learning gained through independent exploration. I leave you with this, it's your money and time, do whatever leaves you happy and fulfilled.
