What would happen if students created their own classes and began learning on their own?  17-year-old Nick Bain did exactly that when he left school to try out a “self-taught and self-paced journey” on a pass/fail basis. Nick designed some of his own courses, experimented with different ways to learn, and kept a journal of his experience. What were the results of his self-directed learning? He discovered how he was best able to learn — and how he could apply that to learning for the rest of his life.