A reflection on learning. Learning involves climbing a gentle hill so start that climb and you will love reaching the pinnacle.
I wanted a blog post that was reflective and uplifting so I decided to write about something I care a lot about. To me, education is the most important thing in the world. After all…they used to say, ‘The pen is mightier than the sword.’
I have studied some psychology and a little biology and reflected upon my experiences in education, including tutoring adults. To me, it seems that education is not just about grades and outcomes, it is about opportunities to absorb information. Sometimes learning happens through experience, yes. But there is a big place for formal education and I feel passionately about this.
- I think about when I was at school and I would do anything to avoid having to play rugby, as it bored me and I feared getting hurt. I recognise that some people, young and not-so-young, may feel that way about English, Maths or Science. But, I soon realised that I had to try everything and give all subjects a good go, not just sit by and let education pass. I now know that attitude to learning is super important. I feel we should not be telling young people it is alright to not take part in things or encouraging them to always take the easy way out. This can lead to them opting for a way out every time and distinctly affect their independent skills later on.
- Education happens through trying, failing, recognising shortfalls and remedying these. It relies on things going wrong and using thinking strategies to solve certain problems. I know lots of people think that teaching people to be competitive is bad but if they don’t learn how to take a knock back, how will they survive in later life?
- It is never to late to learn. I have relatives that did not go to Uni and later regretted it. So what? Start afresh. Education can be picked up at any age. Learning is not limited to teenagers.
I guess what I am trying to say is… education matters. Even if you realise it late in life, it is never too late to access learning.
I agree!
Education isn’t limited to Uni. You sit in front of the greatest tool for learning created. The internet. There are dozens of sites available with unlimited free educational programs such as https://www.khanacademy.org/
Fly, be free to learn what interests you as you discover it interests you. Read all the books.
As a one-time professional student now stuck in the curious-independent scholar cycle for life, of course I agree. I’ve been re-learning how to write stories–now, at my half-century mark! When I taught writing for 10 years.
Sadly I also agree that an avoidance of failure earlier in education really is producing folks ill-suited to the humility of admitting what they don’t know and to spending even longer feeling that way as they learn it.
What concerns me even more, however, is that particularly American backlash against intellectuals, and how that’s led more and more to school administrators and legislators painfully under-qualified for their jobs. So people begin to think nothing of it. What a dearth of logic! How can you judge higher education’s worth when you can’t possibly know what it ivolves? And yet it’s become popular to devalue liberal arts and experts.