Utne Reader Responses

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

Answers

Learning Is the Key to Life This is an article for post secondary students which discusses the need for self education in order to live fulfilling and enjoyable lives. The writer, Jon Spayde, asserts that formal education could not possibly prepare us for the world in which we live. It is too shackled by traditional ideas and to do much more than what it does. Not that formal education is off the mark. It is just that much if the learning you will use to navigate the course of your life is something you can and must learn on your own. It is the desire to learn that helps make life more meaningful. To choose to learn things that matter to you and not some arbitrary list of topics that was prepared as someones best idea of what a liberal education means. Say I would like to learn to play piano. Wouldn't that add an exciting element to my life if I just went out and found a teacher and began to learn? Reading can be seen as an important part in the self-education process. Reading books that you like can give you insights about social issues in the time that your book was set. You can imagine what life was like during the civil war, World War II, the old west, or during the Roman Empire. I have found that I really enjoy studying different historical eras. No one is going to test me on it. I am doing it for my own personal edification. Spayde sees education as power. The kind of power that changes attitudes and empowers people to try different roads on their life's journey. Along the way living will become "easier and its crises will be easier to bear. Spayde distinguishes between fast knowledge and slow knowledge. Fast knowledge is very prevalent in the high tech world in which we live. It zips through the terminals of the information society. Slow knowledge is "shaped and callibrated to fit our lives and needs." Far too much of our energy and resources are spent chasing after fast knowledge but this causes an absence of richness and meaning. As adults, we have the opportunity to pursue learning that interests us. Last summer, I took classes during the UMD summer session. I found that I really enjoyed being a student again. I took classes that I wanted to take and I found them enriching and very enjoyable. As a high school teacher, I get really annoyed at the idea that teachers only work nine months of the year. The three months of summer offer us a chance to become learners again. Even if we simply take the time to read some books that we haven't had time for. A summer spent in self education is rejuvenating and it helps to prepare us to be better teachers in the year to come. The author closes by saying that falling short of your highest goals (in self education) is "OK as long as you stick to the struggle. And the joy." It is a good lesson for us all.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

I enjoyed your perspective on learning. The key, I feel is the student desire to want that knowledge. As teachers we all struggle with the unmotivated learner and it is often our task to sell the product to the customer. It would be nice to believe that we can create enthusiasm for all students but the reality is a room of 25 - 35 students of different ability to understand, and desire for your particular subject.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

Tim, after reading your response and two others chosen at random -- all dealing with the same article (!), I read it. Wow, what a great article. You might want to check out the response from Catherine Nussbaum and D. Erickson -- both of whom read the same thing, and had some different interpretations.

I had to let you know about a great historical novel I finished yesterday -- since you mentioned that you like history -- "Killer Angels" by M. Shaara. It deals with the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Reconstructed, in part, from journals & letters of the participants -- but an eminently readable, enjoyable, informative book -- a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Anyway, thanks for reporting on the article. Any ideas how we can incorporate more of it in the teaching of mathematics?

-- Anonymous, November 15, 1998