I don't suggest that dropping out of college is the best route for everyone - going to college should be a personal choice, not a prerequisite to the only acceptable civilized form of life. Unfortunately, college is shoved upon those who who could learn better in different settings. I was not given a choice of whether or not I should go to college, and neither were many other students in my high school graduating class. Even if we did not know what we wanted to pursue in college, we were told to go anyways, to find ourselves and learn about growing up - at the cost of incredible expenses and long lasting debt. There are many people who believe that taking time off before going to college, or deciding not to go all together, is an enormous waste of time. However, instead of wasting time and money on campus and studying courses they may not be interested in, young adults can seek an education independently by utilizing the tools around them.
Thanks largely to the Internet and it's useful informational and communicative capabilities, universities are no longer the bastions of higher learning that they once were. There are several options for people who wish to educate themselves, and develop a passion for learning by being able to pursue the subjects that interest them.
The Library
The library was the original resource archive, excluding the village shaman. And you usually don't have to bribe libraries with pipe tobacco to get them to share their wisdom with you. Libraries tend to vary in quality of material, but they're free sources of knowledge for anyone who wishes to access them. And unlike attending college courses, a library allows you to go at your own study pace and study the material you're most interested in.
Now we're often no longer confined to the selection provided by the local library. Many libraries also have large online research databases such as EBSCOhost or Questia which contain vast archives of journals, press releases, newspaper articles, and academic studies. Some states have programs which allow state residents to check out books from any public library that participates in the program, such as the TexShare program in Texas. And there are always interlibrary loans so you can request books to be shipped to your library from another library.
Did I mention all this was free?
Libraries are also great community centers, and often feature readings by local authors or productions by local theaters. They are also, according to Ray Bradbury, good places to meet girls.
Check out this video of Ray Bradbury, regarded as one of most brilliant science-fiction writers of his time, discussing how he educated himself using the library:
DIY
We are no longer in the age of overly-complicated technical manuals. It is no longer required to have a master's in engineering to put together an easy bake oven. There is now a vast network of videos, audio recordings, and books available for the do it yourself culture - learn how to do your own plumbing, fix your car, butcher a hog, or psychoanalyze your neighbor.
Specialization tends to limit a person's experience and make them dependent upon other people to complete simple tasks. In Jamestown, the fledgling English settlement established in America, most of the colonists were upper class gentlemen who had such highly specialized professions (including one particular gentlemen who happened to make perfume) that they were clueless as to how to operate a colony for day to day survival. Most of them ended up dying of starvation or sickness, and some turned to cannibalism. Many colonists ended up running off to live with the Native Americans who were more equipped for survival in that particular climate.
It's easy to allow other people to complete tasks for us in our convenience culture -we buy prepared food instead of learning how to make it and hire a repairman to fix broken appliances instead of taking a swing at that malfunctioning psychotic refrigerator - but this kind of specialization leaves us lacking knowledge that might provide valuable insight into our world, and keeps us totally unprepared for the zombie apocalypse.
So the next time you need to change the oil in the car, or need to fix a leak in the roof, look up a video or read instructions, then attempt the task yourself. You'll save money, and possibly learn a valuable skill - even if you fail you will probably learn how to improve the next time around.
In Becoming Educated Without College, Part 3, I discuss more ways in how to become educated without college
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