Consider these two contrasting principles of education:
Bildung is experiencing and acting in the world freely and in personal way through a process of self-education without formal schooling.
Typical schooling: acting in a controlled and impersonal environment in a directed-by-others process.
If I understand your definition correctly, that is what I have been doing all my life. I was only able to get about 30 credit hours of college before the ceiling of my life collapsed on me; I’ve been self-educating ever since.
I think I’ve done well. I’ve read many of the classics at my own pace, rather than a professor-imposed deadline, and have availed myself of many podcasts by PhDs that I respect.
I do regret that I never had the chance for actual classroom interaction, though.
Excellent, Ken.
The public school system is one step ahead of you. At my daughters top rated public school she is “Experiencing and acting in the world freely and in personal way through a process of self-education without formal schooling.”
I don’t think it’s a race, Chris, though I am very glad that yours is one of the good schools.