If you pay close attention to the way we treat learning in our society, you will quickly realize that after our formal education is complete, many of us consider our learning to be “done”. Having said that I have a recommendation to all high school seniors and college graduates across the U.S, KEEP AWAY FROM THE CAP AND GOWN. All formal education seems to end with the cap and gown, and all learning seems to end with the formal education, therefore stay away from the cap and gown and you will stay away from the end of formal education.

Once your formal education is complete, the fun learning should begin. Now is the time to start learning about the things in life that truly interest you. Move over Pythagorean theorem, Pi, and amoeba dissection. Bring on the self discovery, new hobbies, and self improvement.

If you think learning is boring try spending an afternoon with a 2-5 year old. Listen to the questions, watch their mind working, or watch as they discover something new around every corner. Far too soon these human sponges will be well on their way to disliking learning just like you. Once our school system gets their grimy little mits on the little learning sponges that we call children, thing go down hill quick.

Once our children enter school learning becomes a forced activity and all creativity involved in the learning process is left for art class once a week. Now when our little learning sponges aren’t interested in learning about a particular subject, at a particular time, they are labeled ADD, a disruption in class, or slow. It is not long before their little learning sponge minds start creating the child logic short cuts like.

1. I used to learn without getting in trouble..

2. Now I get into trouble if I don’t learn at a particular pace.

3. When I get into trouble I don’t feel loved.

4. When I don’t feel loved it makes me sad.

5. So maybe if I stop learning, I can’t get into trouble for not learning fast enough, because after all this learning stuff seems to lead to pain every time. (Sure we get the occasional good job when we do something right, but when we do something wrong the whole world seems to end).

Having said that, is it any wonder why so many of us stop learning once our formal education ends?