Learning Is Everywhere
Education Expert — Dawn Casey-Rowe
“What style of Eastern medicine did you study?” someone asked.
“Shiatsu. But I wasn’t a good student. I always reached for the aspirin.” I asked my friend about this. He was Chinese. And a doctor. That made him an authority on life.
“Easy,” he said. “Eastern medicine helps you stay well—be proactive, take care of yourself. Most Americans don’t. They live horrible lives then reach for drugs. Chinese medicine makes you think ahead about being healthy. That’s what it’s good for. But if you get hit by a truck, come see me.”
I never did finish my studies. I left midway through my internship, but I realized one thing—that I loved learning. After graduating college, I took a job with a salary and a cubical, but something was missing. Suddenly, I knew what it was. Learning. We learn our whole lives, and all of a sudden, the classroom goes away.
Sitting there with a pile of hard-cover anatomy books, some in English, some partially in Japanese, studying a language with which I had no experience, learning tons of points on the human body, on charts, on meridians, on walls all over the room, discussing herbs like ginseng, I realized I missed formal learning. It was a lightbulb moment—learning shouldn’t be stopped by the three and a half walls of a cube and a series of happy hours. Learning is about life. It’s not about sitting in a chair until the day the diploma arrives…the day my student loans come due does not mark the end of learning.
Learning is everywhere. There’s always something new to learn. My epiphany—I can learn anything I want. I don’t have to take the math course to the end. I can study parts of seven languages. When something strikes an interest, I can dive deep until I’m utterly and completely exhausted. I can come up for air and learn something else. I…can…learn…anything…I…want.
Sounds simple, but we’re so trained in school that we learn in a linear fashion. Chapter one. Chapter two. Chapter three. Until someone says we’re done. Truth is, we’re never done. Learning must free the mind, not cage it.
I think we’re on the precipice of such a learning revolution so great that schools will struggle to keep up—a grassroots movement of learning whereby students, with iPhones, tablets, and laptops in hand, will be able to learn what they want at the drop of a dime. They’re already starting. They get their news feed live from Twitter. They talk to people around the world in real time. They go right to the experts instead of the book. Just like I do.
I think it will be the most beautiful thing since Socrates gathered a few people around him, sat them in a circle and told them to learn. I’m grateful for that lightbulb moment in my life, and I’m grateful I’m still learning and growing, and that learning is in the palm of my hand.
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