Unlearning
I don’t think it would be incorrect to say that learning is relative. To say that one must unlearn a particular skill, by default, is to say that one must learn to forget – to wipe the slate clean and begin once again. As I discussed many times in the past with respect to neuroplasticity, everything that a human performs, whether in deed or in thought, are skills that have been learned. Our experiences shape who we are and our character determines our approach to well, everything.
Personally, I think that when people say our education system and those who partake in it need to “unlearn” certain practices, it becomes an unnecessary over-complication of simple semantics. I agree with the concept, reform requires change, but to use the negation of a direct term, “learning,” is to imply that one has not a useful item from previous experience. That one must completely demolish before gaining anything good. What does that then imply about all those students who have already completed their course in the education system? Certainly, it would be foolish to say that all those who already found their way are required to start again from the beginning and do it in what is now considered the “right” way. This may just be the occasional optimist within me speaking but I refuse to believe that anything is all bad or even, on the contrary, all good. In this context, I think that the reason I came to believe such is because I came to realize that to learn, is to change.
Stagnation means absolutely nothing in the circumstance of education. Thus, if something is constantly changing over time, then there is no way for it to be completely one thing or another because it does not remain the same. In order for something to be completely bad, or completely good, it must remain unchanged, for in the moment that any single, minuscule facet changes, the claim of its entire maleficence or beneficence is immediately put into question. Let me provide you with an example; I’m very systematic, someone who stays loyal to a very particular manner of doing things, and if something disrupts my process, it’s like the sky is falling (gotta work on that, I know). Some people would say that I need to “unlearn” this tenacity to obsessive organization. Contrarily, I would disagree and say that I need to learn how to use this tendency in moderation and more wisely. By using the word, “unlearn,” I have not stripped myself of a detrimental practice, but rather, I have given myself over to the other extreme, complete chaos and disorder. I guess I may be getting a little carried away – this has turned into a rant on my dislike for the word, “unlearn,” but I guess if you were to pair “unlearn” with “relearn,” that’s okay. Although, I will stand by the simpler nomenclature of a bare, “learn.”
You’re probably wondering where this all came from. That would be this article. I suppose I understand and agree with the idea of reforming education by means of fixing the root of a problem as set forth in the article. But I still think precision of language is important – a few conversations with Ben Goes can teach you that. In all seriousness though, I’m a firm believer that no matter how useless or absurd one may think something is, there will always be a takeaway for you to build off of and turn it into something of value – an avenue by which to grow.
Like I said earlier, learning is changing. To prove that you have learned something, there must exist a noticeable difference. This could be an increase in knowledge, a change in mentality, an expanded vocabulary, what have you. Regardless, it all lies in the change and the realization that development and innovation occur only after one learns that there is a better and more efficient way to do something.
This quote from the article, I like; “But if we don’t have and live through enough of a modern lens on the world to create a sufficient sense of urgency, we’ll be resting on what we’ve “learned” for a long while to come.” Well, except, you know, that part about “learned” or whatever. The idea that I get from here and that which I think was intended, is that its not a matter of learning vs. unlearning, but rather learning in the continuous, actionable sense vs. learned in the past tense, an entity that has been terminated and no longer applies as a living practice.
The title, “an urgency to unlearn,” is an urging one, no doubt, but in my mind, I take it to mean something else. I take it as an urgency to continue learning. We have learned that there is something, well, many things, wrong. Now, we just have to keep learning about these problems so that we can fix them.
“No one can apply remedies to ill health except one who has already diagnosed the actual origin of disease.” (John Cassian)
We’ve slowly begun to diagnose education’s disease(s). We must now see to it that we find and apply the remedies to preserve the health of a learning environment within our classrooms.