The way we learn

[coberst]

The way we learn

 

I am not a teacher but I have studied this matter endlessly for ten years. I have had a good bit of schooling and have many years of active self-actualizing self-learning.

 

I think it is important to recognize that schooling and self-learning are very different modes of learning. Schooling is primarily a matter of rote learning what a teacher tells us to learn; this mode of learning applies primarily to our early years. After schooling is finished a new and important aspect of learning begins. I suspect few people ever extend this learning process beyond schooling and I think this is a grave mistake for the individual and for the community.

 

I have discovered when trying to write about self-learning that everybody is a self-learner. Like critical thinking, self-learning is something everyone does. Thus I think I need to identify two types of self-learning.

 

Self-learning for most people consists of all of the day-to-day things we learn in our daily lives. This is sometimes supplemented with reading a book or the newspaper. I would like to add a second mode of self-learning that I call self-actualization learning.

 

I would say that the principle objective way of discrimination between the two modes of self-learning is the possession of a library card. As I define it (since this is my OP I get to define what I am talking about), the person who is a self-actualizing self-learner is a person with an oft used library card. I would say that without an oft used library card a person is a mere dilettante of self-learning.

 

A dilettante of self-learning turns into a self-actualizing learner when s/he obtains one or more library cards because reading many books, or parts of many books, is the only means for seriously pursuing the truth when one has a burning question that cries out for understanding. When a person begins the quest for truth one quickly realizes that the quest is long and that many sources of ‘truth’ must be digested before one moves from knowing something to the position when one understands something.

 

Would you define self-learning differently than I did?

[DarkColoredLight]

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but after you learn a certain skill, appling it to other everyday things. I have no analogies that might help explain this. But think about how you learn from your freinds, parents, grandparents on how to cook. You pick up tips and tricks. Then you experiment on your own. Making it a form of art, if you will. Taking what's good with one dish and adding it to another.

 

Anyway, something along those lines. Kind of. Not really.

[Turtle]

 

I would say that the principle objective way of discrimination between the two modes of self-learning is the possession of a library card. As I define it (since this is my OP I get to define what I am talking about), the person who is a self-actualizing self-learner is a person with an oft used library card. I would say that without an oft used library card a person is a mere dilettante of self-learning. ...

 

Would you define self-learning differently than I did?

You claimed definition rights so I only have some observations. Carnegie took a similar view & built thousands of librarys to promote it. The thing is, some people buy books to read rather than visit a library; how do we count them? Some people (Charles Fort comes to mind as a famous example) go to the library or other reading room & do their reading on-site without ever checking out a book; how do we count them? Some people attend lectures, listen to radio, watch TV, & surf the internet without ever checking out a book; how do we count them?:)

[IDMclean]

I believe there are a few types of self-learned. However, Dependent Origin applies.

 

There is Internal Info-gestion. Active. Where one reads a given source of info.

There is External Info-gestion. Passive. Where one watches, or listens to a given source of info.

There is Bilaterial Info-gestion. Passive/Active. Where one reads, and then writes, or where one watches/listens and then responds likewise.

 

Bilaterial is related to a quote I enjoy.

Once taught, twice learned.

[Turtle]

I believe there are a few types of self-learned. However, Dependent Origin applies.

 

There is Internal Info-gestion. Active. Where one reads a given source of info.

There is External Info-gestion. Passive. Where one watches, or listens to a given source of info.

There is Bilaterial Info-gestion. Passive/Active. Where one reads, and then writes, or where one watches/listens and then responds likewise.

 

Bilaterial is related to a quote I enjoy.

 

Illucid

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[coberst]

I think there are a couple of very important aspects of self-learning that make it a self-actualizing experience.

 

I think that understanding and disinterested knowledge are the two sides of the same coin. I am sure that people on occasion bother to understand a domain of knowledge for reasons other than a desire to understand. Every specialist probably learns to understand his or her specialty and they have been led to do it because it is an instrument serving a career purpose.

 

I think that a person strives to learn disinterested knowledge because they wish to understand that domain of knowledge. I do not think many people bother to study something that does not have a valuable payoff in money unless it is to understand. I would not learn to “do” calculus except that it is necessary to being an engineer. I would, however, study calculus if it helped me understand mathematics. Every engineer, when asked if s/he could “do” math would respond yes. Every engineer if asked do you understand math would answer quickly, are you kidding me!

 

Disinterested knowledge is an intrinsic value. Disinterested knowledge is not a means but an end. It is knowledge I seek because I desire to know it. I mean the term 'disinterested knowledge' as similar to 'pure research', as compared to 'applied research'. Pure research seeks to know truth unconnected to any specific application.

 

 

I think of the self-learner of disinterested knowledge as driven by curiosity and imagination to understand. It is noteworthy that disinterested knowledge is knowledge I am driven to acquire because it is of dominating interest to me. Because I have such an interest in this disinterested knowledge my adrenaline level rises in anticipation of my voyage of discovery.

 

We often use the metaphors of 'seeing' for knowing and 'grasping' for understanding. I think these metaphors significantly illuminate the difference between these two forms of intellection. We see much but grasp little. It takes great force to impel us to go beyond seeing to the point of grasping. The force driving us is the strong personal involvement we have to the question that guides our quest.

 

I think it is this inclusion of self-fulfillment, as associated with the question, that makes self-learning so important.

The self-learner of disinterested knowledge is engaged in a single-minded search for understanding. The goal, grasping the 'truth', is generally of insignificant consequence in comparison to the single-minded search. Others must judge the value of the 'truth' discovered by the autodidactic. I suggest that truth, should it be of any universal value, will evolve in a biological fashion when a significant number of pursuers of disinterested knowledge engage in dialogue.

 

Because self-learning is guided by what interests me is a means for understanding the self. In the process of understanding disinterested knowledge I am exercising a means for self-actualization. This is a term Maslow introduced long ago.

 

Abraham Maslow defined a hierarchy of needs to be:

1) Biological and Physiological (water, food, shelter, air, sex, etc.)

2) Safety (security, law and order, stability, etc.)

3) Belonging and love (family, affection, community, etc.)

4) Esteem (self-esteem, independence, prestige, achievement, etc.)

5) Self-Actualization (self-fulfillment, personal growth, realizing personal potential, etc.)

 

I think that the needs 1 thru 3 are extrinsic needs. While needs 4 and 5 are to a large degree intrinsic needs. They are intrinsic in the sense that we can survive without fulfilling such needs but they are needs that will enhance our sense of self worth.

 

Capitalism tends to attenuate needs 1 thru 3 with little thought to 4 and 5 because such a system recognizes little about anything but net worth. Net worth is valuable especially if it allows us to accomplish needs 4 and 5.