What if you spent your day investigating, learning and applying what you learn based on what totally interests you? What if you were given that choice when you were a kid? Yes – rather than having to go to school, if you were left to it, what would you have spent your time learning about?
I finally finished one of the books I’m currently reading. It’s ‘How Children Learn,’ by John Holt. I wouldn’t recommend reading this book as it has way too much chatter and very few nuggets. The nuggets, however, are extremely powerful.
The author purports that if children were just left to learn based on what interested them, not only would they truly learn stuff (rather than memorise things or worse, fail to learn) but they would also enjoy the process. I know that it’s radical but Holt thinks kids would be far better off staying out of school and learning at their own pace based on their own desires. He suggests this rather than them being forced and cajoled to learn uninteresting stuff in a time frame that’s generic to all pupils.
The author explains that the education system assumes that kids are no good and won’t learn unless the system makes them, the world is no good and children must be broken into it and finally, educators had to be taught so why shouldn’t the future generation have to go through it too.
Just the other day my hubby and I were talking and I made the comment that I absolutely hated school. Aside from feeling that I didn’t quite belong, I was so bored with the curriculum. I hated history then and I will always hate it. Yes – I know that hate is a strong word but if I never have to see another WWII film again, I would actually be quite happy.
And hubby responded that he totally detested school, but for other reasons. Sim was great at sport but terrible academically. They later found out he was dyslexic but throughout school he was labelled stupid. Stories like that make me so angry. Sim is brilliant – if you went to a quiz night, you’d want him (rather than me – the University degree holder) on your team.
Anyway…kids love to understand the adult world. They want to put meaning to everything and when something excites their interest, watch out! Nothing can stop them from learning. They love to pick things up, handle them, feel them and play. They keep doing this over and over until they can find meaning. And I actually think this doesn’t just explain kids – I think adults are the same, but after going through the schooling process their inclination to want to learn gets knocked out of them.
School teaches kids to become generic, lose touch with what it means to have curiosity and can often cause adults to not want to learn based on bad childhood experiences!
I’m a massive fan of books and learning from books. Many people have said that I’m lucky to be successful, but let me tell you, it’s not luck. Whenever I need an answer to something I get a book and then apply what I learn.
Through the past 7 years I’ve read and applied HR, Legal, Accounting, Marketing, Business Owner stuff and had great success. I must admit that it was a bit of a struggle though. I read those books and applied what I learned not because I was interested but more because I had to. It was very similar to what learning was like in school – it sucks, but you have to do it. (I must admit however that I absolutely love marketing…so anything to do with that made my heart happy!)
Now that I’ve decided to change my career path I’ve been reading all sorts of things that completely interest me. When you’re really interested in something you lose track of time researching, understanding and applying what you learn.
The way I see it…is now I’m following my heart and whatever seems fascinating or interesting I’m taking a step closer to it. I’m contacting people that I can learn from (or perhaps teach). I’m reading books on fascinating topics and every day I’m becoming more and more excited about the next day. My whole world is opening up and life is becoming fun again!
No…I don’t know how I’m going to make an income from pursuing my passions, but I know it will come. The whole world is now my university and I’m the one who determines what classes I will take and will not take.
Watch out world!
