📘 Part 3: Learning and education

This episode's vocabulary

• To reflect (verb) - to think carefully, especially about possibilities and opinions.
• Famine (adj.) - a situation in which there is not enough food for a great number of people, causing illness and death, or a particular period when this happens.
• Rampant (adj.) - (of something bad) getting worse quickly and in an uncontrolled way.
• Strife (noun) - angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues.
• To constitute (verb) - to be or be considered as something.
• Universal (adj.) - existing everywhere or involving everyone.
• Abstract (adj.) - existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object.
• Concrete (adj.) - clear and certain, or real and existing in a form that can be seen or felt.
• To fine-tune (verb) - to make very small changes to something in order to make it work as well as possible.
• Spectrum (noun) - the set of colours into which a beam of light can be separated, or a range of waves, such as light waves or radio waves.
• Self-sufficient (adj.) - able to provide everything you need, especially food, for yourself without the help of other people.
• To compromise (verb) - to accept that you will reduce your demands or change your opinion in order to reach an agreement with someone.
• To pick up (phrasal verb) - to learn a new skill or language by practising it rather than being taught it.
• Utility (noun) - the usefulness of something, especially in a practical way.
• To take up (phrasal verb) - to start doing a particular job or activity.

Questions and Answers

M: What qualities should a good learner have?

R: I think there are as many lists as there are learners, to be honest, but I think some common ones are being able to organize and reflect effectively on their learning so they can build on it further.

M: What skills should children learn?

R: Oh, I think that's entirely dependent on the context and the culture, don't you? I mean, what's important for one group of people might not be in another. If you live in a country where there's famine and sort of rampant economic strife, then you're probably not going to need people who are good at building cars. You will need people who can farm.

M: And what about skills that all children should learn? Are there any like basic skills that everybody should learn?

R: I don't think there are, outside of social skills. But what constitutes good social skills and bad ones is something that is socially determined. That's not something universal.

M: What are the differences between the things adults learn and the things that children learn?

R: Well, probably nothing too great. I suppose, if we divide it up, then adults would learn more abstract and specific things, and children would focus on more concrete and general things since their understanding and awareness isn't quite as fine-tuned as adults. But there has to be some progression in that regard. So it's more of a spectrum, really, than a hard divide, now I think about it.

M: Why are some people not willing to ask for help from others while studying?

R: Well, asking for support is potentially quite hard. Especially if you're a proud person, and you pride yourself on being self-sufficient. Well, it could compromise your self-image. The other thing is that you might need to work things out by yourself, even though it takes more time. You might feel more certain and satisfied if you come to a conclusion by yourself, rather than having one handed to you by others.

M: Do you think it's important to learn new things?

R: If it's necessary to learn them, then yes, but if it's just learning things for the sake of learning them, then no, because there needs to be some purpose behind it. You don't just randomly pick up information. It doesn't make any sense. It has no utility.

M: And why do you think some people enjoy trying new things and learning new things?

R: Well, they need to do it, or they're learning it for a purpose. So they might want to do it in order to be able to do something. So you might take up acrobatics in order to become an acrobat. So it's not just like learning for the sake of learning. There's a reason behind it, and that reason might be to have a particular skill to sell or to have something to show off to people.

M: And does technology have a positive influence on the way people learn things?

R: Well, it could have. It depends on how it's used. So if it's used in order to organize information, like on a spreadsheet or something like that, then it will have a positive effect, because the information is clearly displayed. But if it's misused or inappropriately used, like you, don't know, you access something completely unrelated to what you're supposed to be learning as a distraction, then that will not be helpful. So it's not a one-choice or the other. It's just... It's dependent on the use.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers! Hey!

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener. So, the qualities a good learner should have, they should be well organized, right? And they should be able to reflect effectively. Reflect? Looking back at what they've learned. So reflection skills. And we say, to reflect on what you've learned. Other qualities you can say, like a good learner should be responsible and confident and disciplined, curious, like it's interesting for a good learner to learn everything. Should be motivated and punctual. Should be resourceful. What is resourceful? If a good learner is resourceful?

R: They make effective use of what they have around them.

M: Children should learn different skills, and here Rory just doesn't give us like a particular answer, but just says that it's entirely dependent on the context and culture, because, for one group of people, these skills are important, for others, other skills, but, dear listener, if you want to give an answer... So, Rory, you did mention social skills, yeah? Communication skills.

R: Well Social skills, yes, but like, what, what is, what makes good communication skills, what makes good social skills? That's not something you can describe that applies to everybody ever in the world.

M: No, come on, good communication skills. Come on. People need to* communicate when you buy food, when you even order food online, something can go wrong. So you should be able to communicate your message, to ask questions, to make it effective, not like to shout at people. So I think it's for everyone. Good communication skills.

R: Well, I don't know. There are some people and cultures that think being direct and loud when you're making demands is completely acceptable. So no, I don't think that is a universal thing.

M: Yeah, but completely acceptable, but like overall, if we think about the majority of people...

R: Well, if we do think about the majority of people, who are we thinking of?

M: Well, we're thinking about like normal people, you know, like students.

R: But who, who decides what normal is?

M: Oh, la, la, dear listener, you see where we're going? So, if you want to give a direct answer, you can say that children should learn financial management skills, time management skills, and critical thinking skills, when they, for example, read the text and analyze what's true, what's not true, they don't believe everything they read on the news, for example. Ooh, also hygiene skills, huh? Hygiene, personal hygiene. Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health.

R: Yes, but that's a very general state. There's nothing explicit about that.

M: Okay. Just relax. Rory, you relax. You gave us your answer. Cooking skills, dear listener. You can also say problem-solving skills, and good manners. Dear listener, good manners. Children should learn good manners.

R: Like what?

M: Stress management skills.

R: Oh, I need to learn those skills. This is stressing me out.

M: Also, dear listener, you can mention basic first aid. So how to help a person, if, I don't know, blood is running from their arm? So first aid skills. Okay? A very good collocation. So there you go. Different skills.

R: That's just a list of general things, though, there's nothing there that can be applied to every single person.

M: Rory, you relax, Rory. Okay? You've given your answer. It's good.

R: I am elaborating on it to show why what you are saying might not be the most effective thing. For example, good manners. Okay, everyone agrees that good manners are a good thing. That's why they're called good manners. But what do good manners look like? Is it shutting up and sitting down, waiting patiently for your turn on some sort of preordained hierarchy? Or is it trying to please all of the people around you? Or is it something else? You know, you can say these things are necessary, but what are they actually? How they will look is determined by the culture that they exist in.

M: Dear listener, how are you doing? Are you okay? Yes? Good, lovely. Lovely. Adults learn things in one way, while children learn things in a different way. And we can say that adults would learn more abstract and specific things. Okay? And children usually focus on more concrete general things.

R: Maria is loving the chat about general and concrete things.

M: And what is a spectrum? And why did you use the word "spectrum"?

R: A spectrum represents a range of choices within two points. So if we talk about the difference between good and bad manners, for example, there are things that are really, really good manners in my culture, and there are things that are very, very bad manners. And then there are some things which are, it's not good manners, but it's acceptable. So this moves to the middle of the spectrum.

M: Some people are not willing to ask for help while they are studying. So they just don't want to ask for help. They are not willing. Other people are willing to ask for help, and you can use a synonym, ask for support, or ask other people to help you out. And those who are not willing to ask for help could be proud. So they are proud people. Like, I'm gonna do it all by myself. Hey! And they pride themselves on being self-sufficient. So self-sufficient? They don't need other people. They are self-sufficient, yay. And sometimes you might need to work things out by yourself. So work it out? Understand things. Figure it out. So kind of work out the solution by yourself, rather than, like, use the internet for everything. And you can say that people might feel more certain, and more satisfied with the outcome. So if they work things out by themselves, they are more satisfied with the results. And if you don't do it by yourself, you hand it to other people. So hand it over to others? Hand it over to other people. So they do it.

R: Well, if they've done it for you, then the answer is handed to you by them.

M: Rory is against learning for the sake of learning. He thinks that there should be some purpose behind learning. So just learning things, no, no, no, no. So you need to have a purpose. Why are you learning it, okay? But this is like Rory's approach. So learning for the sake of learning could be good. Could be not really good. Okay? So Rory thinks like, if you pick information randomly, pick information, like, choose information to learn randomly. Like I'm gonna learn Italian, I'm gonna learn the guitar. I'm gonna learn this, this, this. So, like, random things. So this has no utility. What is utility?

R: Utility is just a use or a useful purpose for something. So learning how to play the guitar has a utility if you are planning on playing the guitar and doing that long term on your own time, if you're doing it just because and you don't, you have no reason to do it, then it has no utility. It has no use.

M: And I think that learning for the sake of learning is great, dear listener. And you can feel free to learn random things as long as you enjoy learning. You know, you never know what will be helpful in your life. So keep learning. Learn and live, live and learn.

R: As long as there is a purpose.

M: Yeah, the purpose is, you know, like to enjoy it. Oh, by the way, Rory, so you learned how to climb mountains, right? And you, kind of, you have this certification, right?

R: I learned how to rope climb, yeah.

M: Rope climb, yeah. Why did you do this? What was the purpose?

R: Because it keeps you in shape, and it was something fun to do with my friends.

M: Yeah, you see? So kind of, that's, that's a good purpose. But, like, no... Is it practical? How practical is this?

R: Climbing skills and coordinating bodily movements and planning all have some utility, and you need all of that to go bouldering or rope climbing. But that doesn't mean to say that you have to learn rope climbing in order to do these things. There are lots of other sports or activities you could do to practice those skills.

M: Okay, okay. What about wild swimming?

R: Well, the same idea is true. That's about building up endurance. And again, I do it with my friends, so it's built up social connections, so there's a utility there. And then, of course, you swim in natural surroundings, so surely that's quite good for learning your limits if someone was to get in trouble if they're drowning or something.

M: Nice. So to work out, you learned rope climbing while swimming, and you do Jujitsu or Karate and then you work out at home?

R: Yeah.

M: Wow. You see, dear listener, our Rory, he's, I don't know, a collection of all sorts of activities he knows how to do. You know? Great, lovely. Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next episode! Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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