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I don't think I do. Again this whole conversation started when Maiq said that universities did a good job convincing people the only way you can master a subject is by attending a structured course or getting a degree. Your pushback implies that universities are right to do so, and that people who claim to have learned without them tend to overestimate their skill level. That's the bit I'm calling out, and arguments about how degrees are still carrying a useful signal (if you hide all other meaningful signals) does nothing to address my issue. Sure, a university us a place where you can master a subject. It's not the only place.
That's already a completely different claim. I'd say it's more true than the original one, but even then I'm not sure it's as true as you believe. Lots of people cram for the exam, without understanding anything about the essence of the subject, and forget everything the moment they pass. Of the ones that actually understand what they study, it's an open question how many are taking a structured course precisely because universities did such a good job convincing people the only way you can master a subject.
Ok, picking up a hobby that involves learning something in your off hours is not exactly what I'd called being an autodidact. I rotate between various hobbies that involve me dicking around with stuff and learning things as a result, but none of these are what I'd call being an autodidact. In my opinion the latter involves a deliberate attempt to actually master a skill.
As for learning languages at home, I suppose I walked I right into it, but this is just pedantry. All your arguments boiled down to the necessity of feedback, which I agree with, but thanks to the glories of modern technology, learning a language at home as a nerdy introvert doesn't actually get in the way of getting feedback from other people.
Ok, but originally you made it sound like there's some flaw in the skeptic's reasoning that the average person doesn't fall for. If there is one, I don't see it, they both have the same flawed reasoning, it's just that one of them backed the wrong horse (and even that is not always true, just in (hopefully) the majority of cases). The
conventional_wisdomenjoyer doesn't deserve credit for correct reasoning if all he does is follow the crowd, any more than a habitual contrarian deserve's it for his "skepticism",More options
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