[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #11 LEARNING--- THE HEARTBEAT OF HUMANITY

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #11

March 15, 2021

 

 

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!

 

 

 

 

 

www.neurosemantics.com/shop/ 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

 

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