How Not To Learn (inspired by Chris Brogan)
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 12:28 pm. 0 comments
Chris Brogan wrote a post yesterday on “How Not to Learn.“ It really brought to the forefront of my mind my philosophy of life & learning, & how some of the people I know seem to actively RESIST information that may induce them change their mind on a given subject.
If I am to be successful at any endeavor, I need to find information so that I can make an informed opinion. Once I have that opinion, I need to keep learning so that it can evolve & change. Maybe this is because I’m a reference librarian’s daughter. Maybe it’s because both my parents were life-long scholars (three ABD’s [All-But-Dissertations] & three Master’s degrees between them). Maybe it’s because I have 45 boxes of books in my voice studio. Maybe all the boxes is because of my quest for learning. I know that my overly full pantry & extra freezer are from lessons learned at my mother’s side.
There are people in my daily life who I love dearly, but with whom I cannot discuss religion, politics, or other potentially inflammatory subjects. If I want to keep my relationship with them intact, I cannot speak my mind. These beloved people listen to one news source. They seem to seek information that only reinforces their current opinions. I just don’t understand.
Why NOT challenge yourself with new ideas and opinions? If you cannot withstand the information, then how strong are your beliefs? Should we not, instead, investigate that which we believe so that we either firm up our foundation or we find that it is a house of cards and our opinion needs to change.
My teaching style is constantly changing. As a voice teacher, I firmly believe that it’s my JOB to continually learn from every possible source of information so that I can help my students in all their different struggles. As a singer, I continue to take lessons because I know that there is always more for me to learn. My voice is constantly changing, but also there is SO much knowledge out there, and so many avenues that I can take that are on the road of good vocal production, that the more I know, the better I can navigate a “road block” when it occurs.
As a mother, I must learn so as to meet my children’s learning needs – my style should match THEIR learning style. I cannot expect them to learn the same way I do. I am a kinesthetic learner, almost to the exclusion of all else. My oldest daughter is an auditory learner. My youngest seems to be kinesthetic, but not with the auditory exclusion that I have (talk to me about something & probably within a day I’ll swear we never had that discussion, unless I wrote it down). So, I have to change how I think so that I can interact better with them.
If we do not challenge ourselves to learn, change & grow (& maybe even do an about-face of opinion!) then we are arrogant in our assumption of knowledge. If the only sources of information feed our personal platform rather than challenge it, then we are stagnant. To continue to grow as a human being, capable of great love, we must include all the knowledge that we can so that we can embrace the world as our own. We do not need to agree with everyone we meet – indeed, we should not. But we must respect all opinions as sincerely held and trust that they are formed from a foundation of broad knowledge and strong reasoning. Otherwise, we risk falling into the trap that I have seen all too often in my daily life – the inability to communicate with those we love about important aspects of our life because we are afraid of how that would damage relationships. When there is no thirst for knowledge, there is no respect for differing opinions. That scares me to my bones & I pray that those I love will be inspired to broaden their horizons and challenge their opinions.
For over a year I subscribed to the blogs of Chris Brogan, Chris Foley (The Collaborative Piano Blog) & Kavit Haria (Insider Music Business) before I really started to branch out into more extensive social networking (including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and now several others) and eventually this blog. The information has been percolating & simmering – I tried to read information on what makes a good blog & then decided exactly what I should write about.
My husband’s illness last month (he’s fine now – he’ll probably need surgery, but for now it’s managed with diet & exercise) prompted me to begin my blog. I’ve now expanded beyond my need to express how I was dealing with him being in the hospital, but I feel committed to continuing to write. I’ve never been a writer – being so kinesthetic, I’m not quite sure why – but this feels RIGHT at this time and this place. So, bring it on!
Please comment & let me know what you think of both Chris Brogan’s take on learning & my specific thoughts. I’d love to know – how to you see learning in your daily life? What does continuing education mean to you? Should we, as sapient beings, continually strive to learn new information or should our learning slow after we have completed our formal schooling? Once we’ve reached adulthood, do our major opinions (political/social, etc.) change, or do they stay the same? Thanks for commenting! I’d love to hear from you.
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