Thursday, September 11, 2008

What Must We Un-Learn?

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." (Alvin Toffler)

1. Vocalising the words as we read, and to quit reading from left to right.

2. Typing with all your fingers (if you've been using only two your whole life). This is especially tough if you're a relatively fast two-finger typist.

3. Looking for value and usefulness in ideas. We need to unlearn launching into criticism (i.e. analysing why it won't work) as a knee-jerk reaction to every new proposal we come across.

4. Responding to menace with mercy. 'Nuff said.

5. Thinking of "spirituality" in the abstract/invisible/only-me-and-God sense.

6. Having an answer to every objection to our most cherished beliefs - we could explore the value of silence or a waiting period so the question can be sharpened and the issue re-focused.

7. Believing in the necessity of meetings - we must unlearn accepting their inevitability and experiment with other alternatives (e.g. Wiki-meetings?)

8. Reading the same authors over and over again - they sometimes anchor us down in unhelpful places.

9. Requiring a teacher/lecturer for complex theoretical topics, without which we feel that 'real learning' hasn't occured 

10.
Repeating a similar course of action when nothing substantial is changing, whilst continuing to believe that something different will eventually happen from the repetition...(I think Einstein called this 'insanity')



What else do we need to un-learn? I'm compiling a list. Please add to it.

5 comments:

ling said...

Incidentally, when I was in my assembly's camp planning committee recently, one of the camp theme suggestions that came up was, "Unlearn to Relearn." :)

Anonymous said...

Often unlearning is a pre-requisite failing which re-learning doesn't happen very well, right?

Anonymous said...

Learning to ask questions instead of giving answers.

Anonymous said...

oh, or seeking answers

Anonymous said...

Spot on, Flo...:)

It's the whole 'dealing with ambiguity' and 'developing explorative curiousity' thinggoes...

some are comfy, some aren't, but all should be IMO (grin).