During the last year or so, I've been considering the virtues of formal and informal education. I haven't come to any conclusions yet. But, I've been finding many interesting perspectives in my blog-community. Additionally, I've had many interesting conversation with parents who home-school their children and even with parents who un-school their children.
My formal education consists of a healthy mix of learning environments including: K-8th grade in MN public schools, four years of prep school, and BA earned from two years of completing private college courses and about two years of completing public college courses at the University of MN. I decided to graduate a semester early, because tolerating required courses and completing required assignments was nearly unbearable and I couldn't grasp the concept of paying (or borrowing money) for more work to do.
Freshman symposium required all students to write a research paper on a topic of our choice. We had a several months to complete the research paper. Homework included researching the topic at the library, writing an outline, rough draft, second draft and final copy. Writing has always been one of my favorite things to do and having just spent four years at a prep school that shared the library with affiliated university, I knew the university's library inside and out. That's when I drew my line in the sand and told my professor, chair of the university's English department, that I appreciated what she was trying to teach us by assigning homework; however, I wasn't one for busy work and preferred to simply turn in a final draft. To my surprise, she didn't argue at all. She understood my point of view and was happy to receive and grade my final draft. Later that evening I bragged of my success to my roommate. He couldn't believe it either! At the end of the semester, my final draft earned an A-. Of course, that was not my final grade. I received an F for my research, an F for my outline, and an F for my rough draft. My final grade was about a C. My roommate still tells this story.
Learning humility is a life long process.
This said. it's still silly to waste time--there is so much to learn and so much to be accomplished.
Does the process of creating always involve rinsing and repeating someone else's process. Should learners explore new ideas, think original thoughts, and share ideas with their peers and mentors? Or, should learners be taught to stick to the program, complete required assignments, and document that their process is in-line with the required procedure. The answer depends on what we're preparing the learner to do.
Within businesses today, especially in a SOX world, how much valuable time is spent every day completing required procedures and practices or worse documenting that a required procedure or practice has been completed? What is actually getting done?
As we consider formal and informal education, first consider what we're preparing the learner to do.
This scene from Good Will Hunting has stuck with me since I first saw the movie.
"You dropped a hundred and fifty grand on an education that you could have got for $1.50 of late charges at the public library."
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