In the first year of
college, in fact on the first day, I met a girl, who was enrolling for
graduation, just like me. I had taken B Com (Hons) and so did she. I had no inkling what I was going to do with
my life. At that point, we were discussing Charted Accountancy, Cost
accountancy and Company Secretary Courses and may be somewhere down the line
MBA. These were sort of obvious choices. This girl had enrolled into all three
and was going to do all. I was impressed but it figured. It made sense.
She had a goal in mind and was pursuing her courses to achieve that goal.
That very year I met another individual who
was doing her masters in sociology, and planned to continue studying in variety
of arts. She had done her major in music and was going to peruse more courses.
Since her line of progression was not very clear to me, I inquired what she
aimed to achieve and she said, nothing. She is doing it for learning. I was
uncomfortable with her choice to say the least. It did not fit any of the given
thought process I had developed over years. Why would someone just learn? What is learning
without objective?
This brings me to
today’s topic on learning- the Need of learning. Why do we learn?
The
important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. -Albert
Einstein
Learning
is as inherent in our nature. It helps us evolve and grow. But it is more than
that. It is a need, a need that stems from our fight for survival, our search
for answers, and our greed for more. Some have often defined learning as an
outcome of perceptual curiosity which means, to feel uncomfortable with information
and make an effort to find out more about it. A classic example is when
confronted with someone’s beliefs system. Possibility is that one may disagree
with someone else’s belief system but in order to understand them better, they
learn more about the issue.
Another
driver of learning is epistemic curiosity or the will to learn. This is more
like a kick one gets from learning something. Many people I know with technical
backgrounds have keen interest in arts. My senior in previous organization who
was a successful HR professional, was a painter. It was a hobby but she relished it and was passionate about it. It was her meditation.
Then there is anthropology.
Neoteny or retention of juvenile features in adult animals. To quote molecular phylogeneticist Morris Goodman
of Wayne State University, “since neoteny means an extended childhood,
you have this greater chance for the brain to develop.” This in effect will
increase brain’s ability to learn as it is maximum before the maturity sets in.
Neoteny means younger brain.
The sociology of learning cannot be negated. How our social
set up impacts our thought process, and learning, makes a lot of difference on
how we view it. Refer to my discomfort with the concept of learning for sake of
it. I did not understand it. Similarly,
girls getting basic education not to become a part of the workforce but to ensure
that they get married off. All of it is a systemic concept of learning, that historically
influences us.
Perceptual or epistemic, neoteny or sociological driven; learning remains to be our guardian angel. It is an essence of our being and will continue to be so in time to come. Found this wonderful quote to sum it all.
The
capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is skill; the willingness to
learn is a choice.
-Brian Herbert
We will get to the choice part in the coming blogs. The beauty of learning is derived from it being self driven. I will in my blogs over the week also explore the impact of forced learning, different techniques of learning, and impact of learning on different age group.
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