Teach yourself!

Comment to an article by Emma Bubola, "Italy’s Problem With School Dropouts Goes From Bad to Worse in Pandemic," The New York Times, April 26, 2021, Updated 7:07 a.m. ET 

Comment by: Doug Tarnopol, Cranston, RI, 2h ago 
 
image (not from article/comment) from

A good article, but I don't get one thing -- and this is beyond Italy or this article or obvious issues with access to tech for remote learning.

I have made online courses. I tutor, I am an instructional designer. I've done live teaching. Etc. Almost always, and without a doubt, online courses just aren't that great. It's true. But they're not horrible or awful -- usually. Many textbooks are not that great. Many live teachers are not that great. Many professors at college can't teach very well.

So? You learn on your own...if you want to. The "want to" is the key.

What needs to be taught and modeled by parents and the whole society is that as soon as possible -- and that is literally as a child -- you need to start teaching yourself. Learning on your own. This actually comes naturally to young children but it's beaten out of them by regimentation.

Spark a child's (or adult's) interest and the rest takes care of itself. Teach the value of knowing -- in and of itself, for its own sake, for the pure enjoyment of it, prior to any utility -- and you're off to the races.

The hyper-standardization and pre-professionalization of all learning actually drains the act of learning of its "useless joy." If you have that joy, that desire, you'll overcome a poorly designed online course, a subpar textbook, a mediocre teacher.

Learning is something you do; it's not done to or for you. Teachers shouldn't pour knowledge into an empty vessel; they should lay out a path for exploration.

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