#1164 Growing or Regressing
Learning and Growing
Few things alarm me more than an unteachable human. Learning is never about ability but always about attitude. It isn't blocked by not wanting to learn but rather by the illusion that we know what we know for sure.
Being certain does things that impede learning. People who are sure about a thing are closed off to contra information. They eschew any new information because they already know what they know.
Another thing that certainly does is to self-talk over new information. When an opposing point of view is presented, adamantly certain folks are in their heads, monologuing against the first sentence and, therefore, missing the next few.
(That principle is why I listen to a good podcast episode more than once. Not because I am arguing my certainty but because when I hear something that resonates, I tend to think about that thing for a beat or two and miss a few things.)
There are a few things I don't want to be, and being unteachable or unwilling to learn is in my top five. It takes work. I must be willing to put aside a preconceived notion to evaluate a new one entirely.
I went through this recently when reading about Finnish school programs. From what I've read, Finland is head and shoulders above EVERYONE when it comes to primary education. The methodology felt too woo-woo, touchy-feely to me, but after digging in, I think they have the three R's beat—and their results bear that out.
I had a tough time letting go of the rigors of sitting at a desk from 9:00 to 3:00, studying hard, doing book reports, homework, and testing for grades that I grew up with. My grandkids are being educated in the Finnish style, and at first, I thought it was BS.
After witnessing their growth and reading all I have about alternatives to 9:00 to 3:00, I'm on board now. Getting to this point required letting go of something I knew FOR SURE. After all, I am a product of that system, so believing it was inferior would make some of that stink cling to me.
I could write about other lessons of certainty that were anything but. Instead, I want to talk about ongoing learning and what it takes to adopt a learning posture.
Here is psychiatrist Thomas Szasz on what is required to learn:
Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all."
This is a striking assessment. If we hold an opinion too dearly, we may not be willing to suffer the injury to our self-esteem that an opposite view presents. We don't have to abandon our opinions, moral or political stances. We don't have to upend the principles that guided us to where we are. What we need to do is to hold them off to the side for a moment and LISTEN. In the end, we can certainly disagree and, if we're lucky, have a conversational partner capable of learning, but that is beyond our control. All we can control is our own minds and our learning.
Clinging too firmly to an idea constructs an unopenable door that is shut against new information.
Being teachable is a core principle for me. I want to feel confident enough in what I believe to be able to hear and process other opinions to add to my knowledge. Confidence allows me to listen, knowing I can learn and change as necessary. However, Hubris will stop learning dead.
And remember, there is no standing still. You're either growing or regressing.
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