Never Stop Learning

Socrates said, "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." I cannot disagree, not in any way. Once you get that spark for learning, feed it, let it carry you, because it can. I have lived my life always looking to learn more and see the world through a different lens. My parents fed this eagerness in me, subscribing to National Geographic when I was young, and I could not help but be excited whenever the cover had a picture of one of the planets. Then, in fourth grade, I was shocked when my teacher was teaching about the planets and kept telling us the wrong number of moons for the planets. I thought teachers were supposed to know everything. So I annoyed my teacher by repeatedly correcting him. (Note: this teacher was later the janitor at my school when I was in eight grade.) What this experience taught me was that, if I wanted to learn, I would have to work, because teachers are imperfect and might be teaching a subject that they are not passionate about. In the words of William Crawford, "Being a student is easy. Learning requires actual work." At 10 years old, I learned that I had to change my attitude if I wanted to learn: learning was my responsibility, no one else’s. After teaching college for 25 years, it’s surprising to see students who are adults, who have not learned this same lesson.

See the Big Picture

According to Voltaire, "The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing." This is an essential concept to learning. Without having the courage to admit that there is something you don’t know, you cannot see the big picture. In this case, the big picture is that you should spend every moment seeking out knowledge. Look at all the different reasons why this is important. In my case, my parents helped instill this in me from a very young age. They did not just tell me to do as I was told, but to listen and question. Comedian George Carlin said, "Don’t just teach your children to read. Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything." It is not disrespectful, it is necessary. Without questions, there is no progress. In the words of Robert A. Heinlein, "I never learned from a man who agreed with me."

So here is a question to ask yourself that can help you see the learning big picture. "Why are you learning in a particular way?" Is it because it’s the most effective for you, or simply because it’s what you’ve always done? If it’s because it’s what you’ve always done, what if that was wrong? (Remember my teacher who finished his career as a janitor?)

Beware of definitive judgments. In the words of Marvin Minsky, "You don’t understand anything until you learn it more than one way." Consider different scenarios, and try to differentiate between how you like to learn, and how you learn best – in a variety of learning situations. Walt Whitman said, “Be curious, not judgmental.”

Identify Your Strengths

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." Highlight the types of learning that work best for you, and the conditions for learning that support them. In formal education, your may not have much (if any) control over the classroom setting, so you have to adjust. This was a major test in the past two years when all schooling went online. Everyone had to adjust. But this will not always be the case.

Once you identify the things that help you learn, keep doing them. Don’t change things just because "I wanted to try something new." If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Keep your learning fast and effective – while keeping an eye out for ways to improve even more. According to Confucius, "By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

Leave room to practice and strengthen any learning behaviors that you find more difficult. Henry Ford said, "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty."

Work on Your Weaknesses

You can often improve areas of your learning that are letting you down simply by using them more. "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude," said Zig Ziglar. If you can’t run far without having to stop, keep doing it to improve your endurance. The same applies in learning. One method of doing this is, whenever possible, taking that information and crossing over into an area that you prefer.

Benjamin Franklin said, "Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn." I have been in situations where I have had to learn material that was required, although it might not have been of interest to me at all. When getting my masters degree, I had to take a class called Management Information Systems. It was a class about computer networking theory. Not a single computer in sight. It was all about teaching all the various ways that networking technology has influenced our world. One of the assignments was to compile an article database, one article a week, about the use of technology. I had worked in the food industry, so I sought out articles that had to do with technology in food preparation. I took something that was of no interest to me and applied it to someone that did. Plato said, “All learning has an emotional base.” My approach to that assignment helped me survive the class itself, but also helped me expand my knowledge in an area of interest. The class that I dreaded became my excuse to learn more about something else that I actually liked. I took a weakness and turned it into a strength.

Also, actively look for opportunities to try out new ways to learn. You might be surprised by what you learn about learning. Or you might kick yourself and ask yourself, "What was I thinking?" Even if it did not work out, you still learned from it. Albert Einstein said, "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

In the end, learning is not an end goal, but a process. Friedrich Nietzsche said, "He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying." Learning does not come naturally, it requires effort, be it learning difficult material or learning better ways to learn. Bill Nye the Science Guy said, "Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t." You will never regret learning. T.S. Eliot said, "It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time – for we are bound by that — but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time."

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