Lack of education becoming apparent

[Maltesters]

I'm hoping to get some tips of how to better my general knowledge. The older I get, the more apparent my lack of knowledge becomes.

Further education after High School was never an option for me. I grew up in a very toxic, abusive household so education was never a priority.

Despite my disadvantaged start in life I've done okay for myself. I have a good job and a fairly stable life however I have always longed for a profession, something I can be confident in and proud of. A degree/profession might be an option in the future but it's not something we can budget for at the moment. I don't know what I would even study so I'd need to do a ton of research first before I could consider choosing a subject.

Dh is an educated professional and when we chat the gaps in my knowledge are becoming more and more visible. I find that I really struggle to hold a conversation with him or with anyone because I really don't know a lot. The problem is that I don't know what I don't know and I don't know how to fix this.

I try to read up on news and research anything that I don't understand but I'm really struggling. I am really clueless on everything basically and I'm incredibly embarrassed by how little I know.

Can anyone suggest some books to read or topics that I could look up to help me? I have no idea where to begin really. I'm so sick of feeling unintelligent and unable to join in conversations because I don't have a clue what people are talking about.

Highly recommend Tim Marshall’s books on geopolitics. Especially pertinent right now. Try Prisoners of Geography

How do I 'save a whole thread please ?

I'd like to add to the other great suggestins about radio, podcasts etc. - to get a digital subscription to the Times. Articles are arranged under News, Commentaries etc. but under each one you can follow up another linked or relelvant article that was put out in earlier editions. There are some really good linkages so you can follow the background to important news stories, for example. There is also lots on books, theatre, films and TV with the same way of looking up older, linked articles. I am currently trying to educate myself more about books with the help of the website. Good luck, OP

An acute awareness of the modest extent of your own knowledge is usually a sign of intelligence!

My tip would be to keep a notebook and write down any topics you would like to find out more about following on from one of those impenetrable conversation with your DH or others.

A lot of further education is rather similar to the above - listening to someone talking about something you haven't much of a clue about and then going off to think about it and get to grips with it in your own time.

I also think your DH could make an effort to couch what he wants to say in terms that are accessible to you - and that doesn't mean 'dumbing down'. It just means not making assumptions about prior knowledge and being sensitive to your need to be part of the conversation.

@52andblue

How do I 'save a whole thread please ?

Try putting it on your 'I'm watching' list.

Or save a link to it

Thanks for all the replies and sorry for my delayed response. I'm at work at the moment so I'll have a proper look through and reply to them all later.

A quick scroll of the responses and I am very grateful for those of you that have taken the time to help me. There's some really great suggestions here.

To give an example of recent conversations. Dh started talking about the Ukraine invasion and I realised I have absolutely no idea of European history or any history for that matter. The only thing I know about history is from watching the Crown on TV and that's a story based loosely on facts! History might be one for me to start with.

I'll pop back on later and have a proper read of the replies and give you some answers to your questions. Thanks again, your help is greatly appreciated.

"If you are low income you can get discounts or even a free course especially if you haven’t had any higher education before" - that may or may not be accurate, depending on your household income.

Lots of very good suggestions on here - I'd also add that one of the reasons I enjoy Libby and Readly so much is that you can read articles from a wide range of newspapers and magazines, ranging from the right wing Daily Mail to the centre left Guardian (the only reason people think it's left wing is because politics have moved so far to the right), and from all kinds of backgrounds, from the Metro (owned by the Daily Mail) to the Mirror.

I particularly like to see what both sides of the spectrum are saying about events - the headlines are always pretty interesting, one might say "Freedom Fighters put up brave front in Ruritania [fictional country", while another might say "Conscienceless guerillas caught on camera causing devastation".

As others have said, though, you sound pretty articulate to me (and I always used to hold people with PhDs in awe until I actually worked with a few...! Often they're at the genius level when it comes to their particular specialism, but completely out of their depth when talking about lots of other topics...)

My granda was self-educated (working class shipbuilder on the Tyne, a trained slinger but very little formal education), and he was one of the most interesting people I can recall. Other granda was a joiner, and again, far from daft - just not in a position to be formally educated.

Welcome to the world of self-education, anyway - though I don't know if anyone's warned yet just how addictive it can be. ;)

I found the educational you tube channels for children very helpful. Watching them with dc, I learned a lot of things I never knew. And since it's targeted at school children, it's explained well in a simple way.

I'd say that if you want to listen to podcasts, try 'The Life Scientific' and 'In Our Time' on Radio 4.

General knowledge isn't just history and politics. Science is also GK, and can be fascinating

With the Today programme, it's 3 hours long during the week and 2 hrs on Saturday, and although I usually have it on, I'd probably say you could just catch the last hour. I like Broadcasting House, Any Questions, Profile, The Westminster Hour, PM etc

Radio 4
Pick some magazine subscriptions on topics that interest you.
Do you want to know about politics, economics, history??
I consider myself to be well read and well educated, I can hold my own in conversation with most people. I still know next to nothing about many subjects so I listen and learn from others.

I don't quite get what you are after. You started off mentioning 'general knowledge' and then talked about a 'degree/profession'. One is broad-based, one is specific - which one do you want?
I think that what you actually want is confidence. Your "educated, professional" DH liked you enough to marry you so take confidence from that. Don't be so hard on yourself!
Go to museums, art galleries, etc and read every single label. Listen to Radio 4 and watch BBC4.

OP get a simple scaffolding first.

Whaat about a book on European history aimed at young adults to start with, one which includes some social and cultural history, then add to it?

A general history of art, and add one for modern art?

Listen to Radio 3 for music, and check out a time line of great musicians?

You’ll find these branches of knowledge all start to intersect.

Ask on here for a skeleton list of the most famous novels.

Read up Shakespeare stories and see some plays when you can.

Go to art galleries.

Now, I need to do these things myself!

I think 99% of your issue is lack of confidence. I don't know anyone who uses their degree in conversation! But maybe it gives you a level of confidence and 'opinionatedness' (? Can't think of a better word). I think that's a huge thing. Also just lots of reading, even novels. I don't really like factual books but you can learn a lot through good novels. I would recommend 'The Lacuna' by Barbara Kingsolver. It has lots about the Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo plus Trotsky, lots of history. Another thing I enjoy doing is watching films and then researching what was true in the film so 'The Duchess', 'Marie Antoinette', 'Effie Grey', 'The other Boleyn girl' etc etc. There's lots on Netflix at the moment.

Story of the world is a good book to read for an overview of everything history.

I think a very important thing to read would be about the Dunning Kreuger effect

You might have knowledge gaps as a result of a set of life circumstances. However, it is incredibly clever to know that you just don't know.
The crucial thing is to remain curious. Best of luck OP.

Try the Dorling Kindersley Big Ideas Explained Simply series - any good bookshop. You'll learn loads! And listen to Radio 4 constantly - works for MIL, she knows everything!

FutureLearn www.futurelearn.com/ have some really good free short history courses. Basically you watch some videos and follow along - no work involved. And Dan Carlin has a great Podcast/YouTube channel youtube.com/user/dancarlinpodcaster

YouTube is really good for history lessons. Think of something you’d be interested in and pop it into YouTube, there is bound to be a video. Have fun!

You probably know more than you realise - most people do.

For adding to that knowledge start with subjects you enjoy or know you want to understand better. There are topics on MN with good discussions on all sorts of issues from books, music, gardening, house renovation, politics etc - you just don't find many of them in AIBU.

A subscription to a newspaper or magazine (a proper one which actually pays journalists and researchers), radio 4 and current affairs radio such as Times radio (which is news and interviews mostly rather than endless hours of phone ins). There are also masses of podcasts on every subject under the sun.

I'm not a historian but I find 17th and 18th century European history riveting - Eastenders has nothing on the psychodramas

I agree with having radio 4 on. If you only hear part of something and it sounds interesting you can go back and relisten on Sounds app. A history of the world in 100 objects is a series of podcasts done in an accessible way. The michael palin documentaries on bbc iplayer give a well rounded although sometimes out of date view of the world.

Twitter can be a great source of information. There are many teachers, scientists and so on sharing resources and interesting tidbits.
For example, this is a quick guide to the Ukraine conflict for secondary students:
twitter.com/mrfitzhist/status/1496924060428742659?s=21
Obviously, check out the credentials/bio of whoever is posting as not everyone on there is a reliable source (!) but it’s a good starting point.

I would recommend plenty of random radio four programmes. there was a really interesting one yesterday about wifi, lots of physics etc but really easy to take in. Tim Harfords more or less program about numbers is great too. 50 things that changed the modern economy by him is a great book as well.

Another person suggesting Radio 4. I learn all sorts of random stuff by this method. Today I learned that aphids are all female!

I bought this for a friend who wanted to improve their general knowledge.

www.whatonearthbooks.com/us/product/what-on-earth-happened-from-the-big-bang-to-the-present-day/

You know more than you think you do, OP. What you're struggling with is a lack of confidence in the things you DO know, and an insecurity about not knowing things you feel you should know.

Try to shake off your anxieties, and read read read. Whatever you're interested in. Use the internet, read books, newspapers, magazines. You have the vocabulary, you have a brain - you're capable of it. Have faith in following your interests, and confidence in applying yourself. Use your common sense (and think about what 'common sense' means, truly). If you read something in a venerated book or publication that sounds untrue or unlikely or ridiculous to you - trust yourself. Follow through on your thoughts. Have faith in yourself.

We've too long been taught that there's A History, a classical education, Things We Must Know, accepted wisdom. These things roughly correspond to whatever white middle- to upper class boys and girls have and are being taught at public schools. A watered down version gets taught in private and state schools, with notable exceptions.

Learn what you want to learn, enjoy your ability to be intellectually free. Don't know about the rise and fall of the USSR? Google, using common sense. Don't get all your information from a single source, try multiple sources and then use your own life experience to work out what you think might be the truth. You may feel crazy or wrong because "oh well the BBC said that so it must be true". Know that you're not alone, you just haven't found your tribe yet. Ask your DH to explain himself when he says this or that. You might be surprised at how shallow his thoughts might be, or when he says "well, it just is" or "surely everyone knows that". Don't give up. You're no less clever than him.

The world is there for the taking, and you have nothing to prove to anyone but yourself. Read, read, read, and always have an inquiring mind. It's a lifetime's pursuit.

If you want to know more about history then you might enjoy R4 The Long View - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s7d6/episodes/player they look at a current political event and then look back in history at how this event / situation has occurred before.