History is speckled with names of great scholars. We have had them since the dawn of time. It is just unfortunate that in today’s world, it is more common to exclusively apply the tag of scholarship to only those who have gone through formal schooling. Especially only those who have a college or university education.

And it is even more unfortunate that most of us think we cannot achieve the peak of scholarship in our chosen field until we go to college. This is very wrong. History proves so.

Modern scholarship of today, in every field, was built upon millennia of discoveries, inventions and scientific theories. Our airplanes, automobiles and atomic colliders of today did not just appear overnight: They were the result of a thinking process started thousands of years ago by some men.

These men always appear throughout human history, and whenever they appear in any society, their ideas stand tall and unique among their fellow men’s.

Of course, they are still appearing till today, and they are what we now call scientists, inventors, theorist and professors. However, the only thing the scholars of old have in common with the modern ones are erudition, brilliance of thought, creativity and uniqueness of ideas.

But that is where the similarity stopped; unlike modern scholars, many of the scholars of old never went to college. In fact, many are unschooled!

How come do we now attribute scholarship mostly (and exclusively) to people who have gone to college today? And why do we have far less people attaining great learnedness today if they don’t go to college? It is simply because of how we have designed the modern system of education; where serious learning have been condemned to occur only within the four walls of a class!

In centuries gone past in many societies, there was even no equivalent of a college education in many places. Yet, these societies didn’t stop producing men of great erudition, whose great learning impacted not only their own society, but the whole world for good.

Do the ancient Egyptians have universities? The Babylonians? The ancient Greeks? Persians or the Romans? The answer is a resounding no. Yet, much of modern knowledge in almost every field was built upon the foundation laid by men from these societies.

Hope you are following?

It was the method of seeking knowledge that changed. Too much unneeded emphasis was placed on classroom education. And the result is what we have today: creative potentials who now believe they can not be an authority in their chosen field if they do not go to college. We at Infovore Secrets believe otherwise.

And we have a whole load of worldwide examples to prove it. Most importantly, this article is meant to start making you notice methods that can yield you great learning without going to college; methods that have been neglected by the college/university biased system for ages.

Note that this article is not setting out to condemn a university or college education on the path to achieve academic scholarship. But it shall make no pretensions either that what we are about to outline for you are not equally good alternatives, if not far better methods under many circumstances that can help you achieve scholarliness in your chosen field without stepping foot in any university or college ever.

Has it been your dream to achieve great learning in any (or your) chosen field, but for one reason or the other you have you been handicapped from doing so? Because of College/University fee? Allergy to academia? Rarity of your chosen field of study in universities and colleges? Or simply because you just want to try a different path to achieving it?

You have nothing to be worried about, through any of these alternate methods, you can become a scholar in your field by:

Travelling

Travelling is a classic means of learning. In fact, many of what we know about the world and its people today are discovered by travelers. Travelling introduces you to new places, people, concepts and worldviews, and can especially be profitable for your knowledge if it’s carefully planned beforehand.

Have you ever wondered why many illiterate people are deeply ignorant? It is because in addition to not being able to read and write, most of them never travel wide: their learning throughout their life is limited to what they can see, hear or touch within their immediate environment.

This liability of theirs is what we want you to use to your own advantage: You should travel to see what you need to see (and more), to meet who you need to meet (and more), and to experience what you need to experience in furtherance of your scholarship in your field. Travelling enrich your experience, and experience is the useful part of knowledge.

Have you heard of Ibn Batutta? He was a 14th Century Muslim Moroccan scholar and explorer who widely travelled the medieval world ^[1].

Ibn Batutta never attended any university or college, yet his knowledge of the geography of places and their history which he acquired through his travellings remained an authoritative source for many centuries after his death. He was widely quoted in Geography texts of Europe, and his descriptions of places like Timbuktu remained the definitive worldview of the place for many centuries until it was visited by later explorers ^[2].

Be a collector of artifacts (and study them)

A grounded knowledge of the variety of artifacts your field has to offer can give you more than the knowledge of a college professor without you going to school.

Some branches of learning are highly dependent on the collection of tangible samples and artifacts: classic examples of these are ornithology and botany.

But it is more than those two. A quick thumb-through of a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records will reveal to you just how widespread this practice is in the world: you will see that many record-holders excelling in their collection of particular objects are heavily featured in that book.

The practice has been responsible for giving us people who have vast knowledge about objects as mundane as umbrellas or human hair! These people achieve great learnedness in their beloved field of interests by simply collecting connected artifacts and zealously studying them over many years.

Do you wish to take this path? Probably all you will need is a small microscope, a ready and steady cash, and dedication. You might be the next great connoisseur in the world!

Visit Museums

Do you know museums are underrated powerhouse of knowledge? A single day’s visit to a Museum can give you an equivalent of exposure to specific knowledge that might be worth a four-year course in a university.

This depends on the museum you visit though. There are specialized museums (e.g New York Metropolitan Museum of Art) and there are general museums (e.g The British Museum), but both types are usually structured to give a good dose of knowledge about the subject(s) they are created to exhibit.

Museums are also upgraded/updated from time to time, so you will likely see more exhibits there as you visit more over a period of time.

Museums are educational centers that are often promoted as a relaxation center in many quarters, but this is a mistake on the part of the promoters: a museum teaches you a lot of things, but it does so in such an easy and relaxed way that visitors have often mistaken being lectured to being gratified.

The fact that you will learn a lot at a museum without any undue stress or complications (or homework) is what has made it so fascinating (and pleasantly mysterious) to visitors all over the world.

Try very much to visit a lot of museums.

Embrace Apprenticeship

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, an apprentice is someone who is “learning by practical experience under skilled workers a trade, art, or calling” [3]. Apprenticeship is not as essential as it used to be, but it was and still is a goldmine of practical hands-on learning that have been sadly neglected for many ineffectual alternatives.

In his famous book, Water Must Flow Uphill, Professor Rogers Makanjuola was complaining about the undue emphasis being given to “head knowledge” in universities rather than “practical knowledge”^[4]. In fact, he related an experience he had with a professor who was revealed to be completely clueless about basic practical aspects of his field when called upon to help solve a technical problem in his university’s water facility^[5]. This has been a widespread problem in academic circles where students’ (including their professors’) knowledge have been limited to theoretical ideas studied in class. This is not so with apprenticeship.

Many a great past scientists and political theorists discovered their genius through some form of apprenticeship, Michael Faraday and Abraham Lincoln being among the best examples.

Abraham Lincoln never attended college or university – having studied law as an apprentice law clerk in his younger years – yet is now regarded throughout history as a legendary leader of great political acumen and intelligence, and a populariser of the democratic system of government.

Michael Faraday’s achievements alone cannot be contained in this single article and need not be said.

The point in this is to make you see apprenticeship as an equal method of knowledge acquisition that can make you a thorough scholar in your field when compared with what a university/college has to offer in some cases. If your field of interest is especially practical-oriented (like electricity or mechanical engineering), you will certainly gain more by studying it as an apprentice under an experienced master in the craft.

Intensive personal study

Sometime, you don’t need to go too far before you can become a scholar in your field. The knowledge you need are all in books (and now, the internet). What you only need is personal time and a deep zeal to study.

Perhaps the greatest modern example of a scholar who achieved most of his erudition by intensive personal study is Sheik Muhammad Nasirudeen Al-Albani, a Muslim scholar of Islamic hadith who was widely regarded as the most knowledgeable in the world in that field while he was alive (in the 20th century)^[6]. Sheik Albani spent his youth in the Damascus Zahiriyah Library.

He took a personal intensive study of the books in the library so seriously that the library authorities later gave him a spare key^[7]. Sheik Albani emerged the best in the world after many years of going through library manuscripts that have long been abandoned: a task academic Professors in that same field have long overlooked. Indeed, intensive personal study pays!

Remember Archimedes, the Greek mathematician and physicist? Phytagoras, the Greek philosopher and mathematician? And Ptolemy, the ancient Egyptian Geographer? Which university or college did they attend?

There were even no books (as we know it) during their time. Yet, they devote themselves to intensive personal study of natural phenomena till their names and what they do were etched in the sand of time.

It was constant personal study that yielded the result that finally made Archimedes to shout “Eureka”, and it was the same occupation that made his final words before he was taken away to be “do not disturb my circles!”^[8].

Intensive personal study can make you a stupendous scholar in your field if you can give in the time.

Mentorship

Not surprisingly in this fast paced world, a lot of people are in a hurry. Some of the methods highlighted above are time intensive and some of us may not have the time or the patience to give them a try. If you belong to this category, you can consider taking on a mentor then.

Unlike apprenticeship, mentorship is a shorter and more flexible path to achieving scholarship in your field.

A mentor “is a (more experienced) person or friend who guides a less experienced person”^[8]. A mentor is to guide you by telling you exactly what to do and what not to do to achieve erudition in your field.

However, a mentor’s impact on the mentored may not be as thorough as a master-apprentice relationship because of the shorter time involved. But this is just what may be needed, especially if the field of study is just one that needs only guidance or coaching so that the mentored can carry on successfully on his/her own.

Mentorship also has the advantage of flexibility: The mentor and the mentored need not be in the same place. Mentorship can be obtained via emails, internet forums, phone calls or even on social media.

Traipse around Libraries

All knowledge, even if it does not begin in a library, will surely rest lastly in a library. Libraries are the repository of knowledge.

According to some sources, there are 350,000 libraries in the world as at 2016^[9]. This is more than enough to go round. Yet, despite the enormous amount of knowledge stored in libraries, there have been a decline in traditional library use in recent years^[10].

This doesn’t mean the knowledge there have gone away, and this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t visit them too! Rather, libraries are your invaluable companion if you want to become a scholar in your field without stepping foot inside any college or university.

In fact, most college and university publications usually end up in the libraries.

However, not all libraries will offer you admission if you are not a member of the institution operating it. This also applies to private libraries. But most government libraries give free admission to people. You might give them a try.

So, there you are! Up are seven definitive means we have presented to you on how you can be a scholar in your field without going to university or college. Singly or by combinations of some or all of our methods, do give it a try!

References

1.  Ibn Battuta – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta (Retrieved 25-2-2019)

2.           Ibid

3. Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2012). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com (Online Source Code: https://www.gtk.org/)

4.  Rogers Makanjuola (2012). Water Must Flow Uphill: Adventures in university administration. Page 128. Mosuro Publishers. ISBN: 9783786199.

5.  Ibid.

6. Sheikh Mohammad Nasir Ad – Din Al – Albani – https://kingfaisalprize.org/sheikh-mohammad-nasir-ad-din-al-albani/ (Retrieved 25-2-2019)

7.  Muhammad Nasir ud-Din al- Albani  – sunnahonline.com/library/biographies/378-albani (Retrieved 25-2-2019)

8. Noli turbare circulos meos! (January 2019).  – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noli_turbare_circulos_meos! (Retrieved 25-2-2019)

9. What is a Mentor and Roles of the Mentor and Mentee – https://www.oycp.com/MentorTraining/3/m3.html (Retrieved 25-2-2019)

10. Hitor Quell (On Quora.com) (August 2016). How many libraries are there in the world? – https://www.quora.com/How-many-libraries-are-there-in-the-world (Retrieved 25-2-2019) 11. Use of Public Libraries (September 2016).  – https://www.humanitiesindicators.org/content/indicatordoc.aspx?i=98 (Retrieved 25-2-2019)