On Learning…

Learning is the process that is approached by school, that institution that many young people believe God made to curse them. In fact, the theory behind school is very simple. School is meant to teach, to show young people how to learn and how to think. It is the application of these principles that makes school life so complicating. There may be many ways to explain school to someone, but here is my theory. Several factors are involved in the school environment. The first is a place to apply oneself to one’s studies. The next is a teacher. Here I must interject a definition. Webster’s Dictionary says that “teaching is the act of showing or guiding the practice of studies.” This definition is in fact only partially correct. Teachers are people who know that they do what they love to do. They are students of a higher school, that is to say, they learn as they teach and they are not above saying that a student may have a better grasp on certain knowledge. Because the very nature of the profession demand that they teach today’s knowledge and not last year’s curriculum, they are continually staying abreast of the latest findings in their field. Teachers are scientists at heart; they experiment until they get it right. Of course, there are basic laws governing the field. For example, if a student does not understand a principle the first time, the teacher will find another way to explain it, and continue to do so until the principle is not only understood but internalized. Finally, teachers are artists. They take the mind of the student, flatten it, mold it, flatten it, mold it, and fill in details, then mold it again until the thought is indelibly sculpted on the face of the mind. The third part of the school environment is the willingness to jump. When I say “jump” I mean to move out over the chasm of knowledge to find a path from thought to thinking. The teacher can only begin to show the way to thinking. It is the responsibility of the student to find motivation to continue. Only when these three factors are present can one find learning.