Photo Credit: via Melissa from Southern California

Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: “What does his voice sound like?” “What games does he like best?” “Does he collect butterflies?”. They ask: “How old is he?” “How many brothers does he have?” “How much does he weigh?” “How much money does his father make?” Only then do they think they know him. – The Little Prince, Saint Exupéry

This picture reminds me of all nighters before exams and the messiness this student has created signals the disconnect between the orderliness of Schooling and the organic Disorder that is true Education.

When I was a youth, I worshipped at the altar of Academia.  I wanted to get good grades because the world cares about numbers, scores, and rankings.

As I grew older I realized that the things I had learned that mattered were not always in the homework material. As I progressed into university curriculum the scope of my schooling became narrow and rigid. More and more of the important things fell outside of the school curriculum. The manner in which school presented learning failed to enthuse me (much like this student here!) So I took Mark Twain’s famous counsel: Never let your schooling interfere with your education. I still studied for my tests but I went beyond the assignments to sate my curiosity. Homework became collateral.

That said, when I stopped going to school, I never thought I would stop learning. That’s insane.

I am horrified to meet adults with no curiosity, no projects, no desire for learning anything new. Creatures of stubborn routine. People who make me feel like I am living in Groundhog Day. Every conversation is a shadow of the one we had the day before, and that talk was a spectre of the chats we had last week. Let me express my utter disgust eloquently when I say ugh! I am also frightened of these people because I think hebetude is contagious.

But, luckily, so is alacrity. Being around people who are curious, who are shaking things up, who are letting their cuckoos out of their nests, revives my own desire to know, to explore, to wonder.

***

While schooling teaches us self-control, obedience and facts, education teaches us adventure, independence, and creativity.

I know now that I don’t learn in perfectly organized fashion {Sequence B after Sequence A}. It’s much easier to learn when I’m left to organize the information my way, to excavate the meanings therein instead of memorizing facts to which I have no personal connection. I have I’ll venture a bold guess that it’s the same for most people. Also, creative learning is fun.

I’ve been asked to speak to younger students before and I’m always thinking “oh, I’m not sure they realize I run off script.” Because what I want to tell students is…

There are many things you will learn in books but let not the solemnity of Scholasticism fool you. The greater part of your learning awaits outside the classroom. It’s not what you put in your head that matters, it’s what you do with it. If you’ve read all these great books but you haven’t had one original thought about them  or none of them has changed you outlook on life, opened your heart, or changed your dispositions, then  it’s just as well if you read the Cliff Notes.

Education is not the neat box that schooling is. To become an educated person you have to be open-minded and that means standing in the face of ideas you don’t like, trying to understand what you hate, pointing the finger at yourself first. Engaging with Life {Learning} is just plain messy. There are no textbooks, no formulas, no instructor. We each have to write our story as we live, make up our own rules (and break them when we learn better) because Instruction does not a great mind make. Independent thinking is the only nutrient to a creative mind-to-be.

There is no Instruction because there was never a You before. And You will make mistake because it’s always Your first time. That’s OK because you’re not getting a grade anyway. Life is a Pass/Fail class. And, there is no Make Up Test where you can get a perfect A. You pass if you have no regrets; you fail if your life makes you hope for bodily injury because you’d rather be lying in a hospital bed than carry on.

When I first realized that Education was basically making Life up and hoping it does not explode in my face, I wetted my pants {figuratively, but I cried literally} because I realized that I will find no guidance for the life I want to live. Sometimes I still think  ”Oh my God, I’ll embarrass myself, people will think I’m stupid, it won’t work anyway because I’m not talented, smart, efficient, or hard-working.” My sober mind knows that none of these qualifiers are true. But what’s more important is that it doesn’t matter.  If I am stupid, untalented, inefficient, or lazy, then I’ve just got to work and make myself better. I’m the teacher and the student. And there’s no substitute.

Study for the Test. Learn for Your Life. Cheers to Mind-Blowing Week Ahead!