Learning, the Game Changer!

 As a mother, a coach and HR professional, I have always believed that learning is an intrinsic part of our being more so because I was taught in the early stages of my careers to think in terms of learning from the situation. Focusing on learning helped me focus on growth rather than blame, unless I wanted to focus on blame. 

My experience with learning as a concept did not happen when I was in school. It happened much later. The kind of learning I was familiar with in school was mostly ‘rattafication’, i.e. rote memorization. The ‘what’ of subject was explained but not the ‘why’ and I never asked. I think the irony about our education is that it does not help us understand the source.

But times seems to have changed now. I asked my children today on what they understood by the term learning. My daughter, initially came back with an expected response. I felt an overwhelming sense of achievement at being proven right. She mentioned, learning helped us study better and get good marks. Since my work was done, I moved on to my son to ask the same question. I needed views on my write up and I was in a hurry. My son is shrewd. He gave me, in fact all of us a counter question. What do you understand by learning? And then the discussion that perused between him and my daughter was an eye opener of sorts.

Abhay-  “You said learning helps you exams. But does it only go with exams?”

Samya (rather emphatically)- “No, If we learn we find a way to succeed in life. When we do and learn something we succeed.”

Abhay- “What does learn mean? Explain without using the words learn.”

Samya – “If we study something, anything, we have to give anything. We think about that is learning.”

Abhay-  “Is it important that we have to study to learn?”

Samya- “Learn from videos, books, doing something new like the experiments that mom asked me to do. Also we can learn new language, like I teach you French.” (which she does, after learning from school. We are also due for our French classes starting October that she is going to take and is excited to take for us at home.)

I was frivolously taking notes, learning in that moment and grateful for being proven wrong. My children have a much better grasp of the concept of learning than I did when I was their age. I loved my son’s cross questioning technique and my daughter’s patient reverts. There were two additional insights about learning.  Manish Pandey, my husband, and a senior executive at Schneider Electric, believes it to be a lifelong process  and Aparna Dwivedi, my sister and Dean, TAMS Arohan Media School, thinks of it as a realization.

It was a small group with different age groups and variety of experience and all of them had another version to add for the concept based on their own interpretation. My understanding of learning has gone through a gradual transition and not a radical shift. It took me years of observation and understanding and a fair amount of experimentation to reach to certain conclusions about the concept which I wanted to share with the readers. That is why I wanted this week series to be about learning. My premise before I go into this weeks’ blogs are the following.

• -         Learning is personal, its meaning, value and role in individual’s life is based on their own interpretation.
• -         Learning is ever evolving and never ending.
• -         Learning is optional. It’s a choice one makes
• -         Learning is liberating and sets one free.

I will now explore the role of institutions, people, government and society at large in the coming week to establish the effect on learning and the role they play.

I hope you will find the series, beneficial.

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