Reigniting a Passion for Learning

I never liked school growing up.

As I got older I attended less often.

Grades were never a problem for me.  I worked the system in order to do the least amount of work for an A and that is what I got. I would figure out what a teacher or a professor was looking for and would give them those answers because that is what got As. I learned a lot in the process but really only learned what I had to.  

I didn’t attend school to learn. I went to do my time. I didn’t see school as a bridge to opportunity. I saw it as a necessary evil that I must complete to become a productive member of society.

I missed the point. I missed the possibilities. I took my access to education for granted.

I know I am not alone.

I didn’t have this realization till I ended up going to university in another country. At the time I couldn’t point my finger on how the students in this developing nation were different but I knew they were.

They wanted to learn. They weren’t just toeing the line of the educational system, they had this passionate drive to understand and grasp the topics that were being taught. Their learning didn’t stop at the end of the lecture or at the end of the assignment, it spilled all over into their lives. They did not seek to learn what they had to, they sought to learn all that they could.

I found myself drawn into their passionate learning. Drawn to understand what made them want to learn so earnestly. I wanted their passion and still do.

What I found was that they saw their education as a gift not a right. It was not something that society had mandated upon them but it is was something that they had overcome all odds to attain.

I recently read somewhere that after finishing formal education, majority of Americans never read a book again. NEVER READ A BOOK AGAIN. It hit me like a ton of bricks. One of the most privileged societies in the world with access to any book we could want to read and we never read a book again after we finish school.

I know I can’t change how American’s take their access to education for granted but I can change me. I have a college degree but I have decided my learning doesn’t stop there. I have decided to reignite a passion for learning within myself. I want to use my resources to learn all I can and I want to bring what I learn to you. I want to challenge you to seek to learn. To learn something worthwhile and to widen your view of the world.