By your early 20s you should know if you need a teacher, or just a guide, or no one but yourself(plus textbooks&internet), for medium level difficulty and down. If you have to ask, I'm pretty sure you need a teacher.
For example, by the time I was in my last year of college, I regularly skipped 90% of class time, and showed up to take tests. I handed in assignments at instructor's office.
I don't process auditory information all that great, but I'm extremely efficient and robust in my processing of visual information including the written word, graphics, pictures, and video.
On some topics I have sought a mentor, with whom can provide a little guidance, and bounce ideas off of. But his is extremely far from the traditional instructor role.
So in conclusion, most people do far better in class. But for me it's slow, tedious, distracting, and out of sync with my normal learning processes. The few other people that I know who are like me, also skip the classes and have done well. You'll know because from birth, you'll be an excellent test taker, get bored silly in classroom environments, and have likely read 1000 books or more in just two or three years. We never asked "do I need a class", we just stopped going.
For example, by the time I was in my last year of college, I regularly skipped 90% of class time, and showed up to take tests. I handed in assignments at instructor's office.
I don't process auditory information all that great, but I'm extremely efficient and robust in my processing of visual information including the written word, graphics, pictures, and video.
On some topics I have sought a mentor, with whom can provide a little guidance, and bounce ideas off of. But his is extremely far from the traditional instructor role.
So in conclusion, most people do far better in class. But for me it's slow, tedious, distracting, and out of sync with my normal learning processes. The few other people that I know who are like me, also skip the classes and have done well. You'll know because from birth, you'll be an excellent test taker, get bored silly in classroom environments, and have likely read 1000 books or more in just two or three years. We never asked "do I need a class", we just stopped going.