Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I find it unfortunate, but no-cost learning doesn’t exist. I guess this goes back to the concept of if it is worth something, it is worth something.

No-cost learning? Boy, I sure do want that!

Free online courses have a price tag of $0. They do, however, require time, energy, and other resources that don’t cost dollars.

I have to find these courses. I have to choose which one to take. Hmmm, there went an hour of searching and thinking and choosing. That cost something in time and thought. Then I work through the course. Oooops, there was that word, “work.” Work costs me something, otherwise I wouldn’t call it “work.”

I gain. I now know more than I did before. Good for me. The effort was “worth it.” And oooops, there was that word “effort.” Effort is not free. It costs me something. More costs in this no-cost learning. Hmmm.

I guess that if the learning is worth something, it is worth something. The expense I pay in time, effort, thought, choice, (gosh this list is getting long) is worth what I learn. And what I learn is worth more than what I expend, otherwise I wouldn’t do it.

No-cost learning? Yes, I want that. I have never seen it.