The Recognition of Intrinisic Value

It seems that for many traditional age college students learning has become stale and too habitual, too formalized and instrumental instead of being of intrinsic value as well. A discussion list can help awaken a desire (passion!) for learning by inviting guests to the list who themselves radiate a real enthusiasm for learning and can serve as peer mentors to those less excited about the transformation from student into learner. An American Buddhist on one course list took so much time and care in responding to students' questions that he could be seen as a model of a learner for, although he was much older than most of the students, he was deeply alive with curiosity and a willingness to consider both old and new ideas.

My reading of the literature and my own anecdotal experience over several years seems to confirm the visceral notion that learning is not totally a private matter and that key truths about the human spirit have been forgotten in the inertia of the professor-driven, lecture model of education. The need for responsibility and responding with ability in collaborative thinking and writing placed me in the position of acting most and best when realizing I did not need to act so much at all.

The paradox lies in deciding not to teach students anymore so that they could learn. Lao Tzu is said to have said, "I have only three things to teach: patience, simplicity and compassion." After years of over-preparing for courses and delivering lectures, sometimes good enough to surprise myself, it was time to let the students learn how to learn.

A Continuous Experiment

Learning and Re-Learning