The Lost Practice of Learning
Online learning is a wonderful thing.
Until it isn’t.
The Washington Post recently highlighted how some online colleges are allowing students to take unlimited courses, and on their own timeline. Result? Students are speeding through their online courses in weeks, leading to quick degrees.
Very quick.
The phenomenon, the Post reports, is sometimes referred to as “degree hacking,” “college speed runs” or “hyper-accelerated degrees.” It has even given rise to a cottage industry of influencers making videos about how quickly they earned their degrees and encouraging others to follow suit.
The article told of one student who earned their bachelor’s degree in three months, then finished a master’s degree in just five weeks. When questioned about the process, they said, “Why wouldn’t you do that? It’s kind of a no-brainer if you know about it.”
But that’s the problem. The very definition of something being a “no-brainer” is that it requires or involves little or no mental effort. The internet offers us virtually unlimited access to information, but very little in the way of wisdom. We’ve made knowing about something equivalent to its reality in our lives.
But that’s not what knowledge means
In the Bible, to know was to do. It was intimate, experiential, something within you. If it didn’t impact your life, you didn’t know it—even if you had the information. Because you can know about something and never have it impact your life, this is why the kind of belief – the kind of knowledge – Jesus calls for is more than just accepting information.
The kind of knowledge God is after is intimate, experiential, and relational. The verb for “to know” in the original Greek is γινώσκω (ginosko). You find this word used in verses saying a man “knew” a woman, and nine months later, there was a baby. That’s the kind of intimacy that comes with knowing, doing, believing, and relating with God. It’s something you enter into and let enter into you.
In colonial America, one would be apprenticed for six years to a particular tradesperson in order to learn the craft. The apprentice would live, eat, and breathe with the person they wanted to emulate in terms of the skill they were trying to master.
This was the dynamic behind the idea of an apprentice. You would seek to learn a craft under a master to acquire not simply information, but also skill. You didn’t learn about making a gun, forging iron, or weaving a basket. You learned to do it. And to do it well. Only when you could do it were you turned loose as one who had the knowledge (real knowledge) to do it.
To know was to be able to do.
Today, we’ve made “knowing” all about information – seminars, videos, podcasts, TV, classrooms, conferences – which allows the head to be stuffed, but the life to remain empty.
It took me four years to earn my undergraduate degree. Three years for my Master’s. Another three for my Ph.D. I spent 10 years after my primary education on my secondary education. And even that barely scratches the surface of the 40-plus years of education that have come through the actual practice of my vocation.
My years of education and preparation were not simply books and tests. They were years filled with mentors and guides, conversations and life lessons. When I planted a church at the age of 30, it was not before the completion of those years of apprenticeship, coupled with an equal number of years in service under seasoned leaders.
All to say, that’s why being an apprentice matters.
And it is one thing that cannot be sped through.
Sources
Todd Wallack, “Students Are Speeding Through Their Online Degrees in Weeks, Alarming Educators,” The Washington Post, April 19, 2026, read online.
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Photo Credit: ©Kaitlyn Baker/Unsplash
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook, and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
Originally published May 18, 2026.
