Essay On Me As A Learner

Learning – in my case at least – has not just been a conscious thing. And that is quite probably how it is with everyone on the planet. Of course every one of us is unique, but as human beings we are all born with the same basic equipment, including that marvellous “computer” called the human brain. Whether we like it or not, whether we choose to or not, our brain makes learning a continuous process so long as we are awake. But perhaps I should at this point define what I mean by learning. The subconscious or involuntary learning referred to above is not the same type of learning that people mean when they’re thinking of school or college or even in a place of work. Subconscious learning includes, for example, the everyday acquiring of new information such as driving down a known street and seeing a new supermarket where there had not been one the last time you passed that way. Your brain acquires and stores that information; you have learned something new. When you meet someone for the first time, your brain stores their image along with the name they give you when introductions are made – another learning experience. So, essentially, we are all learning, all the time – it’s actually not only a subconscious process, it’s also unavoidable. Of course, a lot of the trivial information we “learn” in that way may soon be forgotten, especially if it’s not needed again for a very long time. Take the new supermarket mentioned above; if you don’t pass that way again for (say) six months, you might well forget that it’s there. However, the brain has not deleted that information; if you pass that way again a long time after the first occasion, you will “recognize” it – your brain has located the information in your memory.
Thus I can say that I have learned new information every day of my life. Even in the moments of waking in my familiar bedroom, I may notice one morning for the first time that the sunlight through the blinds is producing slowly-moving symmetrical lines of bright spots on the opposite wall, a phenomenon that I had never consciously observed until now.
But that’s the normal human learning; a process that continues throughout life, and is especially important in our early childhood, at school but equally importantly in the family home. It is there that we learn from our parents our life values and begin to learn social skills and to understand right from wrong. We also learn to communicate by speech. That particular learning is probably in a large part a subconscious process. It is known that a young child’s brain is most receptive to learning, and probably acquires much of the information needed to communicate without conscious thought.
In terms of what might be called formal learning, I suppose the school years are for most of us who live in a civilized country, the time and the place where most of our formal learning takes place. In my case I can still remember my very first day at school, but not for anything I may have learned. The memory is vivid to this day because of the terror I felt at being “abandoned” by my mother in that new environment. I suppose that in itself was a learning experience – learning to deal with new people around me, and discovering that I could actually survive without my protector for a few hours.
My years of schooling are for the most part consigned to vague memories now. I tend – like most people – to remember only the more unusual events, whether they be good or bad experiences. As a general observation, I believe that I remember best the learning I experienced in the school subjects where I enjoyed my times in the classroom – either because the subject was especially interesting to me, or that I was “good” at it, or that the teacher and I got on better than average. For example, I was top of the class in art and won a scholarship to attend an art college. As a consequence art was not in any way a chore, but a class that I really looked forward to. It didn’t feel like work, in comparison with (say) math. In contrast I was not good at sports, so did not relish the prospect of gym classes or school sports days. I wasn’t grossly overweight or anything; I think I just enjoyed the academic side of school so much more.
I suppose I have to say that my school years (from the age of around five to 16-17) were the years when I learned most. When I moved on to college, I found the learning not only narrower in scope because it was more specialized and more tightly focused, but was less formally disciplined than school had been. However, that did give me a sense of growing up – being given more freedom than had been the case in school. I think I respected that and benefited from it, though some people seemed to find it a way to avoid the actual learning part of college whenever they could.
One area I have always had problems with is the exams. Whilst I enjoy the learning process and have never found any particular difficulty with classroom tests (e.g. questions put by the teacher towards the end of the lesson) when it comes to the important exams I find I need every scrap of last-minute revision time that I can find. Recalling the detail of what I have been taught over (say) the last three months is for me always a struggle. If I don’t have a few hours right before the exam to cram into my brain all the important stuff, I go blank and almost have a panic attack! It’s even worse if there are several exams close together. Strangely enough though, once I have sat down in the exam room and started writing, the nerves generally subside and I can get my head down, only getting worried again towards the end of the allotted time.
I like the classroom environment as a way of learning. A lot of folks these days do much of their learning online or through correspondence courses, but I like the interaction that’s possible in the classroom, either between me and the teacher, or – when it’s permitted – between all of us in the room. It’s often been the case that I might have not fully understood something, so the opportunity to ask for it to be clarified there and then is important in my own process of learning. I’m also more likely to remember it afterwards.
My final years at school were in a co-educational environment (boys and girls mixed). Some say that for teenagers this leads to distractions from the school work, which I’m sure it did, but on the other hand it does – in my opinion – help (especially boys!) learn to deal better with the opposite sex in everyday life. I had friends who went to boys-only school and were noticeably more awkward and uncomfortable in a social situation with girls present.
I think all of us that go to school and college do so not just because we have to, but because we want to know more and therefore to be more successful in adult life and in our chosen career, whatever that may be. I think we all tend to gravitate towards studying subjects that we enjoy most and that have solid connections with and relevance to a planned future career. In my case for example, not being good at sports, I would have instinctively shied away from subjects connected with sport, having no intention of trying to be an athlete.
So I suppose that in higher education especially, my major motivation for learning is to know more about the things I need for the years ahead of me in my working life. That is not to say that learning more fundamental stuff, not necessarily connected with a job, is also important. For example, I may not be interested in a career in finance, but I do need to know enough math to be able to understand mortgages, interest rates, utilities costs, etc, etc. In other words, we all have to live in the real world after college, so learning enough about basic economics is – for me at least – part of the equipment I need for survival in adult society.
But the outcome of all this learning (school, college, and perhaps even further, to a Master’s course for example) is not just the attainment of scholarly competence in my chosen subjects. Along the way I will have learned a great deal about myself and about the interaction with people I have encountered – what are often referred to as “people skills.” For me, although I will possibly never again use some of the detail I have learned through my years in the education system, (some of it learned with difficulty in subjects I really did not enjoy) I would not classify any of that learning as wasted. Not only has it surely been part of the formative process in my growing up, but all that detail contributes, even though subconsciously and perhaps in tiny ways, to making me who I am today.