Monday, March 17, 2008

The Independent Learner LyfeStyle (First Part)

"The true basis of education is the study of the human mind -- infant, adolescent and
adult."

Sri Aurobindo

Independent learners, also known as life-long learners or self-directed learners, know how to teach themselves whatever they want to know without enrolling in a class, ort at least know when and if a class is really necessary.

They can create a plan for their learning, seek out the resources and figure out how to master the material.

Every brain, that is every learner, is unique and no two are prepared to learn the same thing at the same time in the same way.

Most great philosophical traditions, including those embodied in Gandhi, Tagore, Aurobindo and Krishnamurti, recognize a spiritual component to learning, teaching that knowledge is more than a way to get a job or score well on a standardized test.

It is impossible to measure the success of self-learning with tests, grades, and scores.

These individuals are free to blossom in their own ways and do anecdotal evidence abounds about happy and successful learners who have travelled a non traditional path to their own personal success.

One way to strengthen and enlarge your skills is to look beyond scholarly sources.

The world of truth seeking, discovery, understanding, invention, and creation transcends the limited ways of knowing that most of us have been taught.

One of the advantages of being an independent learner is not being constrained, by training or peer pressure, to one single mode of inquiry.

Some inquiries are conducted best through solitary research and reflection; others thrive on interchange with peers.

Some draw principally from books and other written materials; others need gradual maturing over years, sometimes decades.

Self-learners often combine skills used by different kind of professionals, as the reference librarian, the university scholar, the investigative reporter and the detective, when they are searching information.