The choice of education methods for adults is a complex issue. When it comes to choosing between traditional education or self-study, I strongly believe that classroom education is the most efficient way due to a variety of reasons.
One of the main reasons why education in class prevails over self-study is the objective assessment, provided by a high-qualified tutor. The presence of a tutor who assesses the current level of skills of the learners on a regular basis has a great positive impact on the success of study. How does this help? When students’ actual skills are evaluated constantly, they realize their strengths and weaknesses, therefore, learners can concentrate on the areas that require improvements and it leads them to achieve their study goals much faster. When you are studying on your own you can’t fully comprehend it, since you are not competent to do that.
Another argument for choosing a traditional type of study is its competitive aspect being one of the significant parts of the academic environment, which constitutes study in class conventionally. And this is the crucial key to success in study. When learners have rivals, who perform better than them in terms of skills, it fosters them to match at least the level of skills of their peers. For example, if a random student from the average school is placed on a top level institution, he is most likely to improve his competencies in a short period of time, because this student will do everything just to keep up with his peers and there are numerous studies that prove this point.
To sum up, while some people believe that self-study prevails now, I firmly believe that education in class is a fundamental for adults, if they want to achieve study goals as quickly as possible.