Comments on: Broad and balanced v intrinsic motivation.

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:33:42 +0000

“I suppose the real question here is why does autonomous learning scare ppl so badly that they deny its existence”

That’s the ticket, I think. One where people don’t see the forest for the trees. Despite humans having flourished for thousands of years in a wide variety of social makeup, many people believe that humans need to be heavily monitored and controlled – that civilization will disintegrate without it.

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:17:34 +0000

I sometimes get towards the end of the day and tell the children I have no more answers left – they have used them all up. When I just can’t face having to think about another answer to another question.

By: mamacrow

mamacrow — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:08:21 +0000

being a librarian, I’ve been banging on about life long learning and learning lifestyle for years (and boring people riged I dare say) I can’t UNDERSTAND how people rigidly define ‘learning’ as ‘something that happens from 5 to 21 in a school/college/uni’
say what?!

Across the top of our white board in the kitchen I always write ‘to breath is to live, to live is to learn’
Not sure if I made it up or read it somewhere, but it just occured to me one day and seems to say what I mean!

Oh and Mieke, I know what you mean re ‘no more questions’ I’ve been known to complain about the Spanish Inquisition!

By: Maire Stafford

Maire Stafford — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:31:34 +0000

Thanks for this Jax, a very good explanation. I too don’t understand why people can’t see it, the first time I saw the term it clicked with me. Perhaps people see life long learning as something exhausting because they automatically think more school.

By: Mieke

Mieke — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:10:51 +0000

Great post, Jax.
Tell you what, there have been (and still are) many moments in our autonomous family life where I wished my children had a little less – intrinsic – pace, rigour and direction ! You know, when one of them – or heaven helps you, more of them – have got themselves stuck into something and they just can’t stop the ‘learning process’! When it’s questions, discussions, explorings, practising and general information gathering non-stop! I have been known to introduce “no more questions-times”…
And then there are the times in between, when you can’t see, and certainly not measure, any learning going on. Those are the times when everything gets processed. I have described this kind of learning as the “high and low tide” learning. It’s all to do with natural balance, hasn’t it?