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Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci is one of history's best known autodidacts.

Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) is self-directed learning that is related to but different from informal learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is "learning on your own" or "by yourself", and an autodidact is a self-teacher. Autodidacticism is a contemplative, absorptive procession. Some autodidacts spend a great deal of time reviewing the resources of libraries and educational websites. One may become an autodidact at nearly any point in one's life. While some may have been informed in a conventional manner in a particular field, they may choose to inform themselves in other, often unrelated areas.

Autodidactism is only one facet of learning, and is usually complemented by learning in formal and informal spaces: from classrooms to other social settings. Many autodidacts seek instruction and guidance from experts, friends, teachers, parents, siblings, and community. Inquiry into autodidacticism has implications for learning theory, educational research, educational philosophy, and educational psychology.

Etymology[link]

The term has its roots in the Ancient Greek words αὐτός (autós, or "self") and διδακτικός (didaktikos, meaning "teaching"). The related term Didacticism defines an artistic philosophy of education.

Modern education and autodidactism[link]

Autodidactism is always a complement of modern education.^[1] While Leonardo Da Vinci was a privileged autodidact, the Industrial Revolution created a new situation. The creation of secular societies allowed many to pursue scientific interests and to develop scientific knowledge through academic or autodidactic learning.^[2]

Before the 20th century only a small minority of people received an advanced academic education. As stated by Joseph Whitworth in his influential report on industry dated from 1853, literacy rates were higher in the United States. However, even in the United States, most children were not completing high school. High school education was necessary to become a teacher. A large percentage of those completing high school also attended college, usually to pursue a professional degree, such as law or medicine, or a divinity degree.^[3]

Collegiate teaching was based on the classics (Latin, philosophy, ancient history, theology) until the early 19th century. There were few if any institutions of higher learning offering studies in engineering or science before 1800. Institutions such as the Royal Society did much to promote scientific learning, including public lectures. In England there were also itinerant lecturers offering their service, typically for a fee. ^[4]

Prior to the 19th century, there were many important inventors working as millwrights or mechanics who had typically received an elementary education and served an apprenticeship.^[3] Mechanics, instrument makers and surveyors had various mathematics training. James Watt was a surveyor and instrument maker and is described as being "largely self-educated."^[5] Watt, like some other autodidacts of the time, became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Lunar Society. In the 18th century these societies often gave public lectures and were instrumental in teaching chemistry and other sciences with industrial applications, which were neglected by traditional universities. Academies also arose to provide scientific and technical training.

Years of schooling in the United States began to increase sharply in the early 20th century. This phenomenon was seemingly related to increasing mechanization displacing child labor. The automated glass bottle making machine is said to have done more for education than child labor laws, because boys were no longer needed to assist. However, the number of boys employed in this particular industry was not that large; it was mechanization in several sectors of the industry that displaced child labor toward education. For males in the U.S. born 1886-90, years of school averaged 7.86, while for those born from 1926-30, years of school averaged 11.46.^[6]

The secular and modern societies gave foundations for a new system of education and a new kind of autodidacts. While the number of schools and students raised from one century to the other, so did the number of autodidacts. The industrial revolution produced new educational tools used in schools, universities and outside academic circles to create a post-modern era that gave birth to the World Wide Web and encyclopaedic data banks such as Wikipedia.

Autodidactism in literature and fiction[link]

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The earliest novels to deal with the concept of autodidacticism were the Arabic novels, Philosophus Autodidactus, written by Ibn Tufail in 12th-century Islamic Spain, and Theologus Autodidactus, written by Ibn al-Nafis in 13th-century Egypt. Both deal with autodidactic feral children living in isolation from society on a desert island and discovering the truth as they grow up without having been in contact with other human beings.

The working-class protagonist of Jack London's Martin Eden (1909) embarks on a path of self-learning in order to gain the affections of Ruth, a member of cultured society. By the end of the novel, Eden has surpassed the intellect of the bourgeois class, leading him to a state of indifference and, ultimately, suicide.

Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea (1938) depicts an autodidact who is a self-deluding dilettante.

In The Ignorant Schoolmaster (1987), Jacques Rancière describes the emancipatory education of Joseph Jacotot, a post-Revolutionary philosopher of education who discovered that he could teach things he did not know. The book is both a history and a contemporary intervention in the philosophy and politics of education, through the concept of autodidacticism; Rancière chronicles Jacotot's "adventures", but he articulates Jacotot's theory of "emancipation" and "stultification" in the present tense.

The 1997 drama film Good Will Hunting follows the story of autodidact Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon. Hunting demonstrates his breadth and depth of knowledge throughout the film, but especially to his therapist and in a heated discussion in a Harvard bar.

On the television show Criminal Minds (2005–present), Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid is an autodidact with an eidetic memory, meaning that he can remember and easily recall almost everything he sees (this, however, only applies to visual information). He holds doctoral degrees in mathematics, chemistry, and engineering. He also holds bachelor degrees in sociology and psychology, and is working on completing another in philosophy. He is known on the show for being a genius; he has an IQ of 187 and is certainly the smartest member of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit stationed at Quantico, Virginia. Most of his autodidacticism comes from reading books, which he prefers over traditional forms of education, including schooling. He reads at a rate of 20,000 words per minute.

One of the main characters in The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2006), by Muriel Barbery, is an autodidact. The story is told from the view point of Renee, a middle-aged autodidact concierge in a Paris upscale apartment house and Paloma, a 12-year-old daughter of one of the tenants who is unhappy with her life. These two people find they have much in common when they both befriend a new tenant, Mr. Ozu, and their lives change forever.

In the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, Ekalavya is depicted as a tribal boy who was denied education in the science of arms from royal teachers from the house of Kuru. Ekalavya went to the forest, where he taught himself archery in front of an image of the Kuru teacher, Drona, that he had built for himself. Later, when the royal family found that Ekalavya had practiced with the image of Drona as his teacher, Drona asked for Ekalavya's thumb as part of his tuition. Ekalavya complied with Drona's request, thus ending his martial career.

Autodidactism in architecture[link]

Tadao Ando is probably the most famous autodidact architect of the 21st century.

Many successful and influential architects such as Mies Van Der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Violet-Le-Duc and Tadao Ando were self-taught.

There are very few countries allowing autodidactism in architecture today. The practice of architecture, or the use of the title: "architect", are now protected in most countries.^[7]

Self-taught architects have generally studied and qualified in other fields such as engineering or Arts and crafts. Jean Prouvé was first a structural engineer. Le Corbusier had an academic qualification in decorative Arts. Tadao Ando started his career as a draftsman and Eileen Gray studied Fine Arts.

When a state starts to implement restrictions on the profession, there are issues related to the rights of established self-taught architects. In most countries the legislation includes a grandfather clause, authorising established self-taught architects to continue practicing. In the UK, the "Architects (Registration) Act 1931", allowed self-trained architects with 2 years of experience to register. In France, the "Loi n° 77-2 du 3 janvier 1977 sur l'architecture" allowed self-trained architects with 5 years of experience to register. In Belgium, the "Loi du 20 fevrier 1939" allowed experienced self-trained architects in practice to register. In Italy, the "legge 24 june 1923 No. 1395" allowed self-trained architects with 10 years of experience to register. In The Netherlands, the "wep op de architectentitel van 7 juli 1987" along with additional procedures, allowed architects with 10 years of experience and architects aged 40 years old or over, with 5 years of experience, to access the register.

However, other states made the choice to omit such clause and many established and competent practitioners were stripped from their professional rights. In the Republic of Ireland, a group named "Architects' Alliance of Ireland" is defending the interests of long-established self-trained architects who were recently deprived from their rights to practice as per Part 3 of the Building Control Act 2007.

Latest theoretical researches such as "Architecture of Change, sustainability and humanity in the built environment^[8]" or older ones like "Vers une Architecture" from Le Corbusier describe the practice of architecture as an environment changing with new technologies, sciences and legislations. All architects must be autodidacts for keeping up to date with new standards, new regulations, or new methods.

Self-taught architects like Eileen Gray, Luis Barragán and many others, created a system where working is also learning, where self-education is associated to creativity and productivity within a working environment.

See also[link]

• Informal learning
• List of notable autodidacts
• Christopher Langan
• Do it yourself
• Reading (process)
• Learning
• Intelligence
• Analytical skill
• Metacognition
• Intellectual need

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Brown, Resa Steindel. The Call to Brilliance: A True Story to Inspire Parents and Educators. ISBN 0-9778369-0-8.
• Cameron, Brent and Meyer, Barbara. SelfDesign: Nurturing Genius Through Natural Learning. ISBN 1-59181-044-2.
• Hayes, Charles D. Self-University: The Price of Tuition Is the Desire to Learn. Your Degree Is a Better Life. ISBN 0-9621979-0-4.
• Hayes, Charles The Rapture of Maturity: A Legacy of Lifelong Learning. ISBN 0-9621979-4-7.
• Hailey, Kendall. The Day I Became an Autodidact. ISBN 0-385-29636-3.
• Llewellyn, Grace. The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education. ISBN 0-9629591-7-0.
• Rancière, Jacques. The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation. Stanford Univ. Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8047-1969-1.
• Solomon, Joan. The Passion to Learn: An Inquiry into Autodidactism. ISBN 0-415-30418-0.