Our Learning Problem

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It took me a while to get to grips with the fact that “learning” needed to be a continuous process in life. That is, the idea of “learning” isn’t something that is one-and-done but rather is an ongoing activity, a muscle that I should constantly flex and use and build throughout my life. 

The other learning that I had about learning was that it could be on any manner of subjects and topics that interested me. It didn’t have to be on subjects that were considered ‘conventionally useful‘ or that didn’t mean much to me. 

In fact, the point was (is) that learning should be an enjoyable process, a process through which we not only get better but more importantly, that we push our own boundaries and perspectives. That we re-orient our thinking in different directions, adding to our personal wisdom and becoming fuller, more grounded individuals who appreciate and value more of what makes us who and what we are. 

For the longest time, though, I assumed learning was a “one and done” concept i.e. something that should be completed as quickly as possible so that one could then ‘get on with real life”. I assumed it was something that needed to be labored through and not enjoyed (because surely enjoyment wasn’t the point!). 

I didn’t always feel this way. I remember having a real passion for it in my early years, but that view shifted in my teens. I was interested but, as best as I can describe it, felt somewhat lost during that time. There’s probably many reasons for that, teen angst and the uncertainty that envelopes us (from a variety of angles) in those formative years, being a couple of them. I didn’t know what to do and I couldn’t see the avenues through which I could shift my sense of stasis. I felt I was being moved through the system and wasn’t driving myself through it, if that makes any sense. And I didn’t see where, or how, or even if, I could take the reins myself. Of course, as I said, I was an anxious teen, not unlike many of us, so that is what it is. 

But also, if I’m honest, I didn’t see much help forthcoming from the ‘establishment’. I was part of what Seth Godin calls the “command and control mindset of industrial education” and the traditional “do as I say” mentality and the “one size fits all” approach of this system didn’t serve me well. It was very much an environment of you need to figure your own way through this, and if you didn’t enjoy it, then that was simply part of the reality of learning. The system didn’t really require or encourage optimal individual development, nor did I sense it from those who were implementing it - too many teachers going through the motions and far too few teaching for the love of it. Again, a lesson of life, I suppose, but scant consolation for a child in need of direction. 

So the perception I had of learning in subsequent years, in retrospect, was that it was aligned with an outdated notion of what school was about. And, for better or for worse (hint: it wasn’t better), this created the wrong associations for me.

And it’s that way for many kids even today. The truth is that that Command and Control system was, and is, outdated, both in many of our schools and our workplaces. And it is continuing to create these negative associations with learning, development, personal growth. That needs to change.

Learning needs to be individual. It needs to be flexible. It needs to be grounded in reality. It needs to be practical and applicable. It needs to emphasize teamwork. It needs to teach personal responsibility. It needs to value initiative. It needs to embed the idea that the status quo is not acceptable. It needs to incent change. It needs to challenge conventional wisdom. It needs to seed the idea that your age doesn’t entitle you to more or make you different in some way. It needs to show us that we have much to teach and learn, regardless of where we are along our development path in life.

Progress is being made and I see examples of it everywhere. The education my kids received through the Montessori system has been incredible and has fostered some real deep seated values within them that I couldn’t imagine our older methods providing. And beyond the established systems, the internet has opened up a universe of learning that is as flexible as it is ubiquitous as it is interesting.

But there’s still work to be done, before we can feel as if we’ve moved the needle in any significant way. Before we can permanently move (all of us) to the idea that learning should be - needs to be - essential, ongoing and enjoyable.