LEARNING — THE HEARTBEAT OF HUMANITY

On the surface, the idea of learning seems staid, static, and boring. It commonly calls for multiple yawns, and stretches, as you think about what would be more exciting. When you are bored, and looking for something more exciting to do, who thinks, “I just need to get away and do a few hours of studying, reading, and writing! That would get my juices flowing and fill me full of energy and excitement!”

Learning has gotten a bad rap and it probably comes mostly from our experiences in school. We had to go to school whether we wanted to or not. We had to study things whether we wanted to or not. We had to study things without understanding its relevance or importance. So we then engaged in learning while being in the worst state possible for learning— bored and uninterested. And given how everything habituates, no wonder many developed an automatic program from getting sleepy when they read.

After so many years of that, for a teacher to have a class of people at least minimally engaged, they have to work really hard to come up with ways of motivating students. Sometimes they use positive reinforcements, sometimes negative reinforcements, sometimes they dangle the carrot that learning will lead to an interesting career.

Yet all of that pails as nothing before presence of excellence in learning, how experts learn, and effective learning states. Real learning is so different from how most of us learned to learn. Yet most people also engage in some genuine learning. It occurs when they find an experience or skill that they want. He wants to become a world-class gymnast. She has a vision of designing clothes. Experts at learning learn because of a passion or a vision. They have an objective and learning is the way to get there.

That’s why it doesn’t seem like learning, it seems like fun, like an adventure, like a privilege. That’s also why the learning comes pretty quickly. You talk to him and he can quote the statistics of battering averages for dozens and dozens of baseball players. What at memory! “How did you memorize all of that?” you might ask. But he didn’t. He did not sit down and cram one weekend to learn all of that. He learned it bit by bit and because it’s important to him, he has excellent recall of the information.

The role learning plays in being human and becoming increasingly authentic as a person is a central one. Being born human means that we know nothing about who we are, what we’re to do, what’s important, what are we like, what are our gifts, who are other people, what’s life all about, and on and on. Learning is therefore the heartbeat of being human. It is the way we become

fully alive/ fully human. That’s because we have to learn everything. Unlike the animals who have information content instincts, we do not. We only have impulse instincts— but without content. For that we have to learn. If there’s any human instinct, it is the instinct to learn.

That’s the amazing thing about learning. Learning is what we do, what we all do. And for many, that means learning wrong things, stupid things, even utterly irrational things. Everyone learns, but not everyone learns useful, practical, and resourceful things. Many learn how to sabotage themselves, how to treat themselves with disrespect, how to be ugly and nasty to others, how to undermine their talents and potentials. Mis-learning is a big problem when it comes to learning.

Now if learning is the heartbeat of humanity —I wonder what so many millions of children locked down at home, and sitting bored-out-of-their mind day by day, are learning? I wonder how much unlearning they are going to have to do when schools start back up so that they can get back in the game?

In the US we are still below 50 percent of the schools being open for person-to-person learning. Yet there’s no good reason for that. All the science about covid, and about children being in school, says it is perfectly safe for the schools to open. Many states have demonstrated that. Many schools have stayed open the whole time and shown that. It’s time that political leaders at all levels reopen the schools. It’s time for some leadership, instead of politics, from the White House. Enough of this hiatus of learning, while schools may not be the place for the best learning, it is the place where learning begins. Let it begin again!