I took six months off for the OSDSM. I am very aware that it was a luxury to do so. I had to take loans, move out of my apartment, and I studied 10 hours per day.
If you weren't working 10 hours per day, 6 days per week for six months (1440 hrs), and you took 6 hours per week to do the same, it would take you more than 4 years to finish a similar curriculum.
Managing your time is still the hardest part of self-study. It always will be. Most people pay institutions to structure their lives with a workload, deadlines, time off, expectations, and consequences (positive and negative). Having the time for self-study is a luxury few people have; most people won't have the time, money, and opportunity to give up for a "classic liberal education," and by extension they won't have time for self-study, either (one such conversation on the topic: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/loud-nathan-he...). That's part of why new forms of education like The OSDSM are so necessary. Such curriculums fit exceptional cases that are less and less the exception.
If you weren't working 10 hours per day, 6 days per week for six months (1440 hrs), and you took 6 hours per week to do the same, it would take you more than 4 years to finish a similar curriculum.
Managing your time is still the hardest part of self-study. It always will be. Most people pay institutions to structure their lives with a workload, deadlines, time off, expectations, and consequences (positive and negative). Having the time for self-study is a luxury few people have; most people won't have the time, money, and opportunity to give up for a "classic liberal education," and by extension they won't have time for self-study, either (one such conversation on the topic: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/loud-nathan-he...). That's part of why new forms of education like The OSDSM are so necessary. Such curriculums fit exceptional cases that are less and less the exception.