101. Two kinds of learning
[From Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams]
Quick, what’s 8 squared?
My guess is that you know, and the reason you know is that someone drilled you until you did.
The same is true for many of the small bits of knowledge and skill we possess. We didn’t learn these things because we believed we needed them right then, and we didn’t learn them because they would change our lives; we learned them because it was required.
Here’s a second question:
It’s third down and four. There are five defensive linemen running straight at you and you have about one second to throw the ball. What now?
There’s just no way you learned this in a classroom.
Of course, this sort of learning covers far more than football. You need to give a speech. What should it be about? You have to work your way through an ethical dilemma involving your boss. What should you do?
The instinct of the industrial system is to force the bottom rung to comply. It’s the most direct and apparently efficient method to get the work done—exercise power. In fact, it’s not efficient at all. Real learning happens when the student wants (insists!) on acquiring a skill in order to accomplish a goal.
We’ve inadvertently raised generations that know volumes of TV trivia and can play video games and do social networking at a world-class level. The challenge for educators is to capture that passion and direct it to other endeavors, many of which will certainly be more useful and productive.
Tags: stopstealingdreams
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