What Motivates Passion?
One weekend, I was sitting on my bed, surrounded by my close friends. It was almost midnight, I was tired, but the ideas that were being circulated around the room kept me wide awake, and have inspired me to write this article.
“Have you ever thought about the fact that schools around the world are teaching us how to memorise and not actually learn?”.
A spark was lit as those words left my friends mouth, my interest was piqued. She was telling me how memorization involves no mistakes, just correctives. It is facts that cannot be changed or altered to suit your interests or passions. It’s just there and is seen as a valuable way to retain and keep to the required level of ‘intelligence’ in school systems, serving only as a way to answer the same question. It is knowledge that cannot be used outside of a classroom.
I used to have to memorise math equations, geographical locations and scientific laws to ace my exams back in Australia, but when I joined LEAP, my attitude toward learning changed and I could see myself discover my passions and learning style.
In traditional education systems we LEARN how to memorise; we practice and practice, and often make mistakes that we learn from. But the facts we memorise aren’t being learned because they cannot be applied to our true interests. So what’s the point of learning them if we are not going to use those facts in our future?
For the past 3 weeks, I have been working everyday with 11 other like-minded students on projects that we are all genuinely passionate about, and learning how to make them a reality. I am discovering new things everyday —things that I will be able to use for the rest of my life. I am actively on site learning real-life skills; writing proposals, professional emails, budgeting, time management, working with a team, and teaching myself to stay motivated. I would never learn those skills sitting at a wooden desk in rows, copying notes off a whiteboard.
Our Circuit Fort playground is a standing metaphor for thematic learning — collaborated ideas can become a reality, and mistakes will be made on the way, but it will become something that will resonate with me for the rest of my life, just like the lifespan of the recycled tires!
There is a crucial difference between me sitting at a desk memorising the states and their capitals and me sitting at a desk creating a scale model of a tire pyramid. The skills I am applying are skills that are valuable to my everyday life. I am learning as I go, making mistakes, and bouncing back to improve. That’s is what learning is really about.
My excitement for this project has increased my drive to learn, and the more I learn, the more I want to pursue my interests and get on with making my ideas a reality. And LEAP has helped me discover this hidden passion, to make things into reality, and motivate myself to learn new things — even outside the classroom.
So now, as I sit here writing this article, I have one piece of advice for those who truly want to learn…
If you find your interests and pursue them with no fear of failure you will learn more than you could ever imagine. I guarantee you will find yourself being able to use these skills throughout your lifetime. I have already, and I am beyond excited to tackle the next project I come across — all arms open to the process of learning!
