Learning by learning
We all know that advice is overrated (except our advice to others, which is unheeded). It’s just hard to acquire wisdom through advice-giving.
We also all know the “other person’s shoes” idea, how experiencing something from another point of view can bring insight.
I’m not going to give advice in this post; I’ll just tell a (short) story.
My day job for years has been as an educator. Educators are fond of talking about how a good teacher is always learning. I’ve heard myself say this many times, I believe it, and I thought I was practicing it, too. It’s funny, though, that it was only recently that I signed up to take a course, the first college-level course I’ve enrolled in since 1997.
It’s an art studio course, and wow is it hard work!
Only now do I remember what it feels like to be a student.
The instructor explains something, and I think I understand, but I can’t put it in to practice.
Or: I’m thinking about what she just said, and I realize I’ve just missed the next four things she said.
Or: My classmates easily pick up some techniques I find nearly impossible, and I find other techniques straightforward and see my classmates struggle.
Or: I know I’m there to learn and not for a grade, but I feel the pressure of the imminent grade.
Or: I go through frustration, despair, impatience, perseverance, more despair, and then relief over the course of a single homework assignment.
The class is an extended interaction, more than a survey form or a role-play or an experiment that I set up, control, and evaluate.
Now we’re cooking with gas!
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