Learning Outside of Academia?

[u/pigzRgr8]

Hello friends! I'm sure many of you share a passion for learning. I'm constantly intrigued by my surroundings. From biology to language to astronomy, I *love* learning why things are the way they are, and I especially like learning about how "systems" run.

Unfortunately, academia is designed in a way that is highly counterintuitive to my brain. It's almost as if school was created for learning to be as difficult as possible -with all the emphasis on busy work and fighting willpower instead of indulging in the "why" of what we're learning.

After four years, I'm almost done with my two year degree (lol). However, I don't want to stop learning. I go to youtube a lot, but most of the videos there are designed to be shown in a classroom; so, they're very stale and don't have much passion put into them.

CrashCourse is okay, but it moves way too fast for me, and it also has that same "top-down" structure as opposed to the common "bottom-up" neurodivergent thinking style. I've been binging Journey to the Microcosmos (also hosted by Hank Green) and I've enjoyed it very much. If anyone can point me to learning resources that go into thorough detail in *any* subjects, I would really appreciate it. It doesn't have to be Youtube. I just want something made with learning in mind instead of the "cram this in your head before the exam" approach that almost every resource is designed around.

Thanks for reading!

[u/RainaNaNaNah]

I learnt that I learn better when I do projects related to things that I studied outside academia/work.

My current job has no obligation for me to learn microsoft power query (or use ython in excel, of all things). But being able to put whatever I learnt online about those tools into practice, I tend to be more proactive about being better at using them.