Learning Outside the Lecture Hall

With Schools Still Not Operating Well, We Need to Expand Our Definitions of Learning

I love almost everything about ski weekends in Vermont. The fireplaces stacked with smoky logs. The rosy-cheeked children in great pink snow suits. The reward of beer and pizza after a day of exercise. I love the Adirondack-style front porches and the crisp mountain air. What don’t I enjoy on these trips? Skiing. 

I didn’t learn how to ski until my twenties; my urban-born parents thought that the entire activity was high-priced insanity. But age 24 is too late to begin skiing. Unlike those little three-year olds who are thinking “wheeeee” as they fly down the slope, my brain doesn’t stop thinking, “DEATH DEATH DEATH.” 

At some point, I made my peace with the fact that I would never be Lindsay Vonn, so now I read my books in the ski lodge all day, while the others ski. That’s where I am right now. My younger son, Ian, whose autistic sensory issues can only handle scratchy clothes and pinchy boots for half a day, will join me soon. 

While youth is the best time to learn some things, like skiing or playing an instrument, it’s never too late to learn most things, to tackle new challenges, and to grow. I sometimes like to keep track of the new ways that I’ve grown wiser. 

My work always opens new doors. This month, I talked to a bunch of teachers about their charter school and chatted with a professor about the best ways to memorize information. Honestly, I’m constantly surprised that I get paid to talk to interesting people all day. I am beyond lucky. 

In my regular life, I discovered a new poet, while selling vintage books on Etsy. Preparing for bathroom renovations, I learned about recreating Arts and Crafts-style patterns using little hexagonal tiles. I made everyone stand outside the state capital building in Montpelier yesterday, because I decided that I need to take selfies at all fifty state capitals. 

Parenthood has conveniently provided me with two little lab rats for observing how other people learn. My older son learns in a random, scattered, Internet-y manner. My younger guy, with his autism, learns some things so effortlessly and rapidly that it takes my breath away — he looked at the multiplication tables once and just knew them. Other lessons require years of therapy and pain — his therapist is trying to get him to modulate his tone of voice, so people don’t think that he’s angry all the time. 

Life is a game. The more new things that you do and new pieces of information that you acquire, the more points that you get. 

Schools never got back on track after the shutdowns during the worst of the pandemic. Kids are suffering from long term issues with depression and anxiety. Many never returned to school at all. And teachers are dispirited, relying on actors on YouTube to read stories to their kindergarteners, while they’re on their laptops plotting career changes.

The system isn’t working for many kids right now, which is a tragedy. Most kids don’t have charter schools or parents with PhDs to fill that vacuum. There’s no question that we’re dealing with generational trauma from the pandemic. And the school closures trashed more than schools; it’s made people suspicious of learning all together.

It’s going to take a while to rebuild public education. In the meantime, we need to rethink learning. Learning doesn’t just happen in an AP class, after all. Learning happens at job sites and during a ski trip. Sure, many things must be learned with flashcards and quality lecture notes, but learning also happens with curiosity and adventure and experience. We might need to revive the love of learning and teaching before we can properly rebuild the school system.

Disclaimer: I wrote this in a cafeteria in a ski lodge on an iPad with dodgy wifi. I’m giving up and publishing without putting in all the links or adding additional material. Another newsletter comes next week. Here’s this week’s blog post for some personal stuff.