Concerning Human Understanding…
Greetings:
No, I am not going to rewrite Hume or Locke.
However, I do wish to point something about time and learning. We live in a society where blocks of time — 12 years, 2 years (or 14), and 4 years (or 16) are the most prevalent antecedents to success in education: primary/secondary, community/technical, college/university.
The expectation of schools and employers is mastery of concepts (if only age-related) within these time frames.
We disparage the individual who just gets by, but does graduate, or the individual who gets a “D” in a course that is not their strength, assuming that the grade is the correct measure of the student’s long-term capacity to learn. We also critique the person who does not graduate, for any reason.
We often hear that adults later in their life should take a course of any type to chart new ground or to reinvent oneself.
With the end of my term on council, I found that I had much more time and the opportunity to audit courses here at the college. So, I am sitting in three classes of interest. One of them involves material introduced to me at Bowdoin, but I did not understand very well. Another, covers concepts that I have read about over the years, but still do not understand very well. A third examines two topics blended into a course. Both topics I know pretty well given my background, but the blend is important and useful.
Well, just in the first two weeks, I see things in these topics that I never saw. In particular, I comprehend material that I failed to understand at Bowdoin 38 years ago. Yes, I can thank the teachers, but I had good teachers at Bowdoin, also.
What does that suggest about understanding? Well I remember reading an educational expert’s book, Howard Gardner (I believe), who suggested that humans tend to revert back to perspectives of a 6 year old, once they get beyond 30, because active learning does not continue. The passage of time and the luxury of experience cause me to look at and process material differently. I am not relying only on my opinion, I am able to see and use knowledge in a different light.
I am not a champion for high stake tests, nor the assumption that a person must master a skill at 18, 20, or 22 (or in 12, 2, and 4 year periods spread over several decades). I do believe that learning how to learn is one of the most vital tasks through which a school does its job. This means allowing failure and the time to puzzle. Obviously, personal achievement is more complicated. However, if one does not know how to learn, there is risk that actions and decisions taken later in life will rely on old information, or much worse, a value system that mimics what he or she were like at age 6.
Taking these courses will not make me an expert. However, each helps me understand a bit more how the world works.
Somehow we must instill in students that learning is part of the human condition, and not just a task for getting a job. If perceived as only a step toward a job, then students in the long run reduce their chances to learn how to learn, and employers may tend to ignore hiring a graduate with low grades under the assumption perfection does not exist.
Human understanding takes time. Our capitalistic system, bent on immediate surpluses, has influenced educational practices to focus on the ends, rather than the journey. The journey may well be more vital as we cope with polarization in society and the forgetfulness of those who are unwilling to keep learning.
Best regards,
Michael
Really important point: “if one does not know how to learn, there is risk that actions and decisions taken later in life will rely on old information, or much worse, a value system that mimics what he or she were like at age 6.”
I barely graduated from High School for a variety of reasons, a lack of interest and lots of distractions being primary factors. Did quite well through Graduate school and firmly believe that life long learning is basic to healthy living.
We do need to look at education in a more flexible manner. I ended up loving academics. It is not for everyone. Our educational system does not deal well with kids who may be more trade focused. I have read about some of the apprenticeship programs in Germany and how they train / move young people into living wage technical or craftsmanship roles as part of their education. I work with a lot of young people who grow up in less than ideal situations. Not seeing a pathway to living wage work is a huge part of the drop out / criminality problems we face…maybe later in life they then go back to school, but the more young people who start out learning basic work ethics and ability to strive (and deal with failure) the better off we will all be.