Tuesdays with Ian - Formal Education Has a Pretty Steep Learning Curve

Could learning be its own reward?

For the past 21 years of my life I have been learning in a variety of different contexts, environments, and circumstances.  At least 15 of my 21 have been spent in the rigid confines of formal education where, for me at least, learning commonly takes a backseat to earning an "A" and performing better than those around me.  Achievement becomes not so much a function of gaining intelligence, so much as it is a function of getting the highest marks with the least amount of effort.

There are some things about formal education that seem counter-intuitive   Complaining about teachers assigning difficult assignments becomes the norm.  An almost reflexive aversion to anything that could be described as "difficult" or "challenging" develops as one thoroughly peruses submissions to ratemyprofessor.org in an effort to determine which prospective professor has the highest "easiness" rating.  Studying is not a gay (ie light-hearted, merry, cheerful, jolly) past-time adopted for personal improvement, but a laborious task requiring almost an inhuman supply of willpower.  Teachers are not benevolent educators with our best interests at heart so much as nefarious sadists bent on ruining our lives with an ever increasing burden of "assignments" designed to occupy our precious time that could be spent on other far more rewarding enterprises.  Think of the countless hours of television left unwatched, number of friends left un-hung-out with, the number of thumbs left un-twiddled (generally 2 for most people)!  All time ruinously sacrificed to the heathen deities of homework, projects, and papers.

Hyperbole aside, how has the pursuit of education, learning, and ultimately, greater knowledge become such a trial?  After all, we not only gain knowledge, described by the Bible as preferable even to "choicest gold" (Proverbs 8:10), but are further incentivized by grades and the promise of a higher salary (actual gold if you're interested in investing in that kind of thing...) and a better position in the professional world.  We should be clamoring for more assignments!  More homework!  More papers!  We should be thrilled at the opportunity to read dense scientific studies of genomic loci and the influence their expression has on the human cell!  Providence should be thanked for the creative outlet our history professor so graciously bestows in the form of a 15 page research paper on the causes of the French Revolution!  Exhilaration should be our response at the prospect of spending hours in the library doing nothing but solving complex math equations!  Not loathing!  Not dread!

So why is it that the aforementioned response are not elicited?  Here are some of my theories:

1. People are lazy - learning takes work, and, let's be honest, watching TV is so much easier
2. The love for learning should be intrinsic.  Bill Gates didn't begin programming because someone assigned him to.  He did it because he had passion for it.  The grades and points and marks of formal education provide an extrinsic motivation that in a very real sense degrades our intrinsic satisfaction at having learned something new.  Consider, for example, the fact that I am writing this blog post.  It's fun.  No one assigned me to do it (unless you count Zac or Johnson) and so it becomes a hobby rather than a chore.  Sometimes things are mundane just because people tell you to do them.
3. Competition is at the heart of formal education.  Some classes are designed to weed out the less competitive.  Although this might work well for creating a ranking by which we can determine who gets better jobs and who gets worse jobs, it's not exactly an environment where passion for learning is developed.  It's great to get the right answer.  But it's even better if I'm right and you get it wrong.
4. Most tests are designed to elicit a structured regurgitation of information.  Information told to you by your professor, who is always right.  Although you may get fairly proficient at repeating facts and getting the "right" answer, it's not exactly a recipe for creative development.

There are probably more but that's about all I can think of right now.

What's the solution?  Bake a cake full of rainbows and smiles!  Also I don't know but I'm open to any suggestions.

Albert Einstein once said "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

But let's be honest, he probably only said that because he was too stupid to get good grades.

Einstein's mediocre grades... and we all know what a loser he was... right?