Here is my attempt to explain the reason for my lacking presence on Steemit lately, just in case there are a sprinkle of readers that may be wondering. I have missed reading the smorgasbord of tales, thoughts and experiences of those that are here and the sometimes too much info to handle late nights that roll into mornings of reflex yawns in an attempt to stride through the rest of the day.
I’ve had to choose where and what I spend my time on as life unravels and new ventures present themselves. Unfortunately this has forced me to spend less time on Steemit, for now, as I’ve been spending my time re-learning how to learn. Looking back to the days at school, all the way from primary to high through to tertiary, I’ve always been a passable type of student, didn’t really excel in anything except art, because art was fun and I could express anything however I wanted and during the end days of high school I was really pushing the boundary between passing and failing. I remember once just simply not doing an assignment because I just didn’t want to anymore. I couldn’t see the point, it was a toxic mix of naivety, rebellion, lack of foresight and understanding of what it would mean for my future should I wish to play the academic game.
I realise in my more mature years that I’m not unintelligent or incapable of learning, it’s the way in which the teachers were taught to teach that made the whole experience boring, it felt like a churning robot factory of I tell you this, you write it on a piece of paper and I give you an A, over and over and over again. It’s not a case of teaching students the passion of curiosity and understanding the mechanics of the world’s order that sparks one’s natural gift for learning with open eyes, ears and hearts but rather a test of how well you can memorise and repeat information spewed at you in a factory manner. For instance, maths - ooooh spew! How unsatisfyingly boring are those numbers that make NO sense at all, and if you zone out at the zooming cars or the rustling leaves of a tree watching the birds defend their nest for just one minute, forget it! You’ve basically succumbed to being what I calI an unsolvable equation because you’re five digits short of a wave function and no amount of positive multiples can get you back on that grid! Geography? I remember we live on planet Earth.. did someone declare that Pluto was no longer a planet, does that mean I now fail that past exam on our solar system. I wonder how many of you can relate to that?
So, upon realising this and journeying through the discovery of learning with passion and a natural love for knowledge, the rate at which I learn now is increased exponentially, information is a joy, techniques and discovery is essential and learning becomes easy. I link to one of my first posts that offers one such specific technique here on how to memorise. I think it’s such an absolute shame that the majority of us weren’t taught this way when we were in school. I think it’s imperative to question what we’ve been taught, start to develop your mind for thinking for yourself and not just accept the first piece of information that’s spewed at you because it may be easy to deal with or fit your prerequisites. I believe at birth we all have the gift of natural information absorbers and translators, then it gets stomped out, suppressed as we’re thrown into a production line to churn and burn, making those with the upper hand, those with the castles.
I often wonder how I would teach children a class on maths, English or history, maybe they’re the ones who should teach the adults.
** Learning stuff again
It took me a decade to rediscover my love of learning, and I went to an incredible school.
What are you focusing on at the moment? Is it Steem Monsters? Yeah, it's probably Steem Monsters.
Haha no I’m focusing on math, maybe steem monsters could introduce a mathematician-borg ..?
We already have @holoz0r, he's mathtacular.
I haven't advanced to steemmonsters yet. Next grade i think is the 101.
Welcome back. I have much the same early learning process experience, it just wasn't for me. I wish I had learned differently or was built differently to learn but, it is what it is.
Now, what you can do here is track your progress and introduce ever more ideas into the ecosystem to aid others on their own journeys :)
Oooh yes so very true, I will watch my progress and see if it’s worth reporting. It may just all be a giant waste of time, the journey is fun though!
It is all a giant waste of time. post about it :)
Great article, @stuffing! You raise some important questions.
I hated my University years, mostly because I hated the way stuff was being lectured. It made me bored, annoyed, apathetic... and eventually, too lazy to care anymore.
I've learnt more in my first year working than in all my University years combined.
Thanks for sharing!
Street cred is incredibly valuable! School and uni is tough, it’s structured in a way with the assumption that everyone learns the same way and speed - my belief. I would love to know what the schools of 100 years down the track will be like..
I nearly abandoned my university education dozens of times. Not because it was hard, but because I saw that type of learning as far too institutional, structured, and with no room to really develop, or learn from mistakes.
I think over the last decade, we've lowered our standards on what it is to be "learned", and the beneficial feedback that is constructive; (yet at times brutal) - can be found in no place but in the voices of those who also wish to learn.
Oh yes, snap! I agree about the lowered standards, could it be because we let the technology think for us, it’s cultivating a sort of lazy learnitude?
I think the whole notion of "let's not hurt anyone's feelings" is what is hurting learning the most.
If we all agree on things, we don't have discourse, or conflict. We can't argue (in the academic sense, not the throwing pans and pots at each other sense!) for a position; without devolving to comparing the other party to hitler.
It is good to hear alternative viewpoints. You have to respect other people; but you don't have to respect their opinions.
Conversely, this quote can work the other way around as well.
I can respect someone, but not respect their opinions on a certain topic.
Will you be making an appearance next Thursday at the Jade? I plan to bring the shiny silver Succubi! (From years past!)
Hi @stuffing!
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You got a 14.81% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @stuffing!
I have a friend that always complained in school what if people were allowed to learn about what they wanted to instead of what people told them to.
He was also a proponent of getting rid of tests and trying to create some other sort of mechanism to understand how an individual is retaining what is taught to him.
Either way I understand about taking a break because of stuff in real life going on and wanted to say welcome back!