VOICES Publishing from the AAJA National Convention
Kio Stark, author of “Don’t Go Back to School,” is an advocate of independent learning. A lifelong independent learner, Stark presented an idea capsule on Thursday on how more people are declining traditional education and degrees in exchange for experience and knowledge found outside the classroom.
VOICES: How did you become an advocate of independent learning?
KIO STARK: I’m a writer, researcher, teacher and independent-learning activist. I’ve been an independent learner my whole life and a teacher for a long time. Five or six years ago, I realized I’d been answering a lot of questions about how to go about this, and I wanted something I could give people beyond a conversation that would help them get started. So I wrote “Don’t Go Back to School.”
VOICES: What did your idea capsule encapsulate?
STARK: My goal is to enable independent learners to succeed, to open up more resources for learners, and to help generate more respect for independent learning. These are both practical and cultural changes I’m passionate about. So there’s practical help, and broader advocacy.
VOICES: Do you think this independent-learning philosophy applies to all disciplines and areas of study or is it more design and tech-based? Although we are in an age of the digital, how do we combat an increasingly competitive market that often requires a college degree to break into?
STARK: I think independent learning is an approach that can be used for almost anything — it’s definitely not limited to tech and design. I spoke with 100 people as I was researching the book, and many, many of them were learning general knowledge, arts, film, science and others along with tech. No one I spoke to had trouble getting a job with their independent education and training, but they were a self-selected group of people who were happy with that path. They used a variety of techniques to present themselves to potential employers that I talk about in the book. If you think about it, given how fast things are changing in every field, the capacity to learn independently is a fantastic job qualification across the board.
VOICES: How do we get employers to take employees without traditional credentials seriously? What skills do these employees need to have to get them through the door?
STARK: It’s a combination of chutzpah, alternative ways of demonstrating your competency and skills like portfolios, and the confidence to show that your learning skills themselves make you a stellar job candidate in the landscape of work and workplaces that are changing fast, all the time.
