League of Learners.
In the advent of exams, I was prompted to visit CrashCourse; which is this YouTube channel that I swear by. A couple of binges later, I surfaced at a corner of the YouTube black hole where a Ted Talk by John Green on the nature of learning caught my eye. (You can watch it here if you want) He talks about learning and why it appeals to him, among other things.
One of the things he emphasizes upon is the importance of being in a community of learners. To clarify, he says that being in a place or community that values learning, or values curiosity, is paramount. Why so? I like to think that the average human mindset is somewhat akin to a moth. We go where the light is on, where the collective of society and majority shine a flashlight. Where everyone looks. This is where the community of learners comes into play. You see this collective, that's working as a hive mind to shine a flashlight upon knowledge - it doesn't matter what sort - and you fly straight to it.
It's hard for someone to find a community of learners when disengagement is seen as cool. Even though I surround myself with lovely people - who are in many ways, my own little community of learners - I find myself bemoaning the lack of a collective light I can fly toward. And that's when I realized why there's so many kids around me who simply don't learn. We lack a community of learners. Everything's better with company for the social animal.
What was my solution? The Internet. The Internet, which holds the key to knowledge and the lock upon it too. I found places like Ted, or CrashCourse and SciShow. The comments section was my doubt session. But then again, you draw the line somewhere. I want an 'irl' community of learners. Which seems next to impossible sometimes, because who else learns for kicks? (This is, of course, rhetorical. I have so many amazing people around me who'd rather find the solution to the infinity paradox than... say, fool around. But you get the picture.)
Which is why I'm going to spend this vacation simply learning. Learning stuff that might benefit me in exams, sure. But learning nevertheless. Because learning makes your life interesting. It lends schema to your interpretation of your world. It helps you see completely through the frosted glass. And I want you guys to accompany me. No matter how old you are, even if its minuscule, even if it won't help. Just for once, learn for the sake of learning. Because who's there to stop you? And why the heck not?
One of the things he emphasizes upon is the importance of being in a community of learners. To clarify, he says that being in a place or community that values learning, or values curiosity, is paramount. Why so? I like to think that the average human mindset is somewhat akin to a moth. We go where the light is on, where the collective of society and majority shine a flashlight. Where everyone looks. This is where the community of learners comes into play. You see this collective, that's working as a hive mind to shine a flashlight upon knowledge - it doesn't matter what sort - and you fly straight to it.
It's hard for someone to find a community of learners when disengagement is seen as cool. Even though I surround myself with lovely people - who are in many ways, my own little community of learners - I find myself bemoaning the lack of a collective light I can fly toward. And that's when I realized why there's so many kids around me who simply don't learn. We lack a community of learners. Everything's better with company for the social animal.
What was my solution? The Internet. The Internet, which holds the key to knowledge and the lock upon it too. I found places like Ted, or CrashCourse and SciShow. The comments section was my doubt session. But then again, you draw the line somewhere. I want an 'irl' community of learners. Which seems next to impossible sometimes, because who else learns for kicks? (This is, of course, rhetorical. I have so many amazing people around me who'd rather find the solution to the infinity paradox than... say, fool around. But you get the picture.)
Which is why I'm going to spend this vacation simply learning. Learning stuff that might benefit me in exams, sure. But learning nevertheless. Because learning makes your life interesting. It lends schema to your interpretation of your world. It helps you see completely through the frosted glass. And I want you guys to accompany me. No matter how old you are, even if its minuscule, even if it won't help. Just for once, learn for the sake of learning. Because who's there to stop you? And why the heck not?
Wow...that's inspiring
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of first-worlders such as myself take our education for granted - it's refreshing and wonderfully poignant to be reminded to appreciate the fact that we have the resources to continually learn, to educate ourselves beyond the classroom and on our own time as well. And as someone that enjoys the learning process also, thank you for this post <3
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