Learning As a Way of Being . . . to be continued

In Learning As a Way of Being by Vaill, the author presents some very insightful thoughts and asks great questions about what it means to be a lifelong learner. We as educators encourage our students to be "lifelong learners", but do we really know what that means?  Do we really know what it means to learn as a way of being?  I've only read the first fifty pages of the book, but I'm beginning to question my idea of what it means to be a lifelong learner and what it means to learn as a way of being.

In the conclusion of Part I of the book, Vaill encourage the readers to dream about what our own learning is like out of its "institutional learning straightjacket (p. 50)".  That sentence, along with many others made me really think (I know it doesn't happen often. LOL! ;-)).

I can understand why Vaill refers to learning as a institutional straightjacket. As students, learning is forced upon us.  People have told us since kindergarten (some of us who were fortunate, pre-k) what to learn, how to learn and how fast we should learn. If we are perceived to be mentally unstable, someone will decide what we will wear - a straightjacket, how we will wear it - in a manner such that we can't take it off, and how slowly someone will remove it. (That’s funny to me!! LOL! Too much sugar!)  And in both situations, we are in places we don’t really care to be – in an institution.  So can you see how the two are similar?

I've often made the comment that I learn so much more when I take the time to learn something of interest to me versus when I am instructed to complete an assignment. When I am learning for my interest, I can take all the time I need and nothing is being dictated.   On the other hand, if I am given an assignment, it’s almost certain there is a rubric attached with a deadline.  Vaill stated,  ". . . learning for many of us is a means to an end that is not of our choosing. We go through a learning process in pursuit of a goal we have been told is important (p. 31)".  That statement is very powerful very and true! Does it resemble the attitudes of your students? 

 One more thing to think about. . .  What do you, those who haven’t read the book, think Vaill meant by the statement below?

"We can begin to form a picture of our existing implicit model (of the learning process) by briefly considering three of its implicit principles: that learning is painful, that learning goals are given to us, and that the person setting out to learn is much less admirable than the person who has completed a set amount of learning (p. 28)".