1. I started going to elementary school in 1952, when I was six years of age, and I finished my doctoral studies in 1975 at the age of twenty-nine. Between 1969 and 1970, I spent a year in military service, which was compulsory for young men in Yugoslavia at the time. All in all, my schooling took no less than twenty-two years, which adds up to nearly a third of my entire life. So, what do I think of my schooling experience so many years later? Was it worth the trouble, not to mention all the resources required? The best I can do at this stage of my life is to recall my schooling to the best of my ability, which is hardly worth boasting about in my dotage. For better or worse, my recollection of my youth is patchy at best.

2. Most of my memories from elementary school have little, if anything, to do with schooling as such. That is, I do not remember learning anything worth mentioning. Not a single teacher remains in my mind by now, let alone the subjects they taught. It was about socializing and nothing else. Education was of little importance to both teachers and pupils in my early years. When it comes to literacy and numeracy, as well as a few stabs at geography and history, the entire period remains blank in my mind. Most of my learning in the early years took place before or after school, when I was free to roam my neighborhood without any supervision by either parents or teachers.

The same holds for my highschool years. What I remember most clearly is my annoyance with quite a number of teachers, who are known as professors nowadays. For example, my dislike of mathematics in my teens came from my abhorrence of a woman teaching the subject back then. Not only was she a poor mathematician, but she was also biased towards the kids who learned everything by heart. And these were mostly girls, I remember very well. By their highschool days, they were pros at learning everything by heart. Besides, they were most proud about their superb grades. And most teachers in my highschool were also proud of pupils of this ilk. They were supposed to be exemplars to us all, which annoyed me no end in my puberty. To my horror, learning by heart is still endorsed by teachers across former Yugoslavia to this day.

3. My undergraduate studies in Belgrade are marked by memories of a few talented students I was friendly with at the time. By and large, our professors made little difference to us, the special ones. It was essential to pass exams, and that was that. It did not take us long to learn how to pass one exam after another, and with blessed ease. The key to our education had to do with camaraderie between the best students in my department. I remember them much better than most of the professors who supposedly taught us. By the way, not a single young woman was among the best students in my youth. Learning by heart was appreciated by only a few professors I remember, and they taught narrow technical subjects only. All the others appreciated talent and courage among their students.

It was not very different with my postgraduate studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Although I learned quite a bit at several courses, and especially in mathematics, my recollections of both my master’s and doctoral studies are marked by the best students around me one more time. I learned a great deal from them rather than from so many professors at our disposal. But I learned nearly everything of any importance all by myself with a few gentle nudges by my able mentors. And gentle they surely were. The best of my mentors made sure not to teach me in the usual sense of that word. They guided me from a carefully guarded distance, which I appreciated at the time, but which I appreciate even more after so many years.

4. Given my own experience with schooling, which is rather extensive, I am not its advocate. Education is a personal affair, as it were. All one needs in life are a few savvy mentors, who can be of great help every now and then. To be sure, many of them can now be found at the best universities around the world, just like the best of students, but the rest that these universities provide is of little importance by comparison with pointed and timely advice. In short, the best that schooling provides in my experience is close contact with superb students and occasional interactions with worthy mentors. Everything else is nothing but a social game. This may be perfectly sufficient for run-of-the-mill students, though. Most of them engage in schooling so as to encounter and eventually befriend future partners in the game of life, anyhow.