What is important to learn

We don’ susbscribe to a lot of magazines around here, but one that gets read the moment it arrives is Life Learning Magazine. There is always something interesting or inspirational in almost every article, a level of quality that is amazing – but not surprising – for a small circulation publication.

From an article in the July/August issue on mindful learning comes this great gem from John Holt:

Since we can’t know what knowledge will be needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.

Great advice to carry around, especially for designers of learning programs. The difference between training and learning is captured in that quote; those who confuse the two will find themselves heading down one path while the othe heads away in the opposite direction.

[tags]training, john holt, life learning[/tags]