Lifelong Learning

I live in the UK which means compulsory education stops when you reach age 16.  For me personally that meant 7 years of primary school and 5 years of high school.  Those 12 years of education taught me a lot, but most of it was generalised with the exception of electives that I took in high school which were specific subjects I wanted to study.  The remaining subjects and their syllabuses were intended to establish a foundation or a baseline that you would take with you through life.  How much of it was relevant is debatable and how much of it I have even used is even harder to determine.

After those 12 years of education everything else was considered further and higher education which wasn't compulsory it was entirely optional, for me that meant 2 years of college and 3 years of University entirely spent studying subjects that I chose and wanted to learn about.  All together compulsory and optional education for me totalled 17 years and came to an end when I was 21. 

I find the idea that at 21 you have learned everything you need to learn to survive in life to be one that is both laughable and laudable for its arrogance.  If you were to take most adults and ask them if they think a 21 year old has life figured out the answers you would get would be typically derisive, and yet the system we have hinges on the belief really that at 16 you know everything you need to know to survive in society - if you disagree with this assertion then you cannot conceivably believe that the education system we have is fit for purpose because the two beliefs are irreconcilable, you're either prepared or not at that age and if the answer is that you are not prepared then the question inevitably arises, do you need more education or do we need to change what is taught?

If you change what is taught then there will inevitably be the question of bias and the questions of political influence in deciding what is and is not relevant to include within any curriculum.  If however you choose to educate further then you run into the problem of choice.  I'm under no illusion, most people hate school, at least in my generation that was the case, I don't know if things have changed much but I'm willing to bet they haven't.  I hated school and wanted nothing more than for it to be over.  You might find yourself asking why I pursued further education if it was a choice and the answer is simply that, because it was a choice.  The atmosphere was completely different when I was surrounded by people who were there because they chose to be there not because they were made to be there.  They were studying a subject they chose which they had an interest in which they wanted to learn about and wanted to engage with others who were learning about it too.

You could not take adults and ask them to sit in a classroom all day the way we do with children and teenagers, they just wouldn't do it.  That is not to say there are not adults who pursue education, I know from experience that the age ranges in college and University were wide ranging and that people pursue further and higher education later in life.  However the idea of blanket enrolment of an age group in courses is something that I think would be nigh on impossible to impose.  What is clear however, is that with age, the things you need to know in order to get through life change.  Most of these things would be irrelevant to children and teenagers and if you were to teach them at such a young age, by the time they would need them they would not remember much if any of the details at all.  For example, planning your retirement, investing money that you have made, taxation of inheritances, purchasing property, employment rights, and a whole host of other financial procedures that you don't encounter until later in life.  None of these things are taught in schools but most adults at some point will need to learn about each of these things in greater detail and at present you're pretty much left to google it or to turn to some organisation that offers citizens advice - or you hope that friends and family can provide answers who have been through these things before you.

Somewhat controversially I would also say that most people who become parents aren't ready, and that most parents have to learn as they go.  Some people are good at it, and some people are objectively bad at it.  I know there will be many parents who will take offence to these remarks and offer their opinions and their experience in retort but I would simply say that the fact there is no consensus or definitive guidebook to parenting simply serves as a testament to the fact that it isn't something that has been standardised in the same way that subjects in education are.  I'm not saying that everyone should have to take a course in Childhood Psychology or Cognitive Development before they become a parent but I am saying that this being something that the majority of people are going to experience at some point in their lives it is somewhat humorous that you aren't actually taught how to do it.

That last point touches on another aspect of education I often take issue with, and that is the belief that all education is instructional when it is not.  Education can be theoretical or practical and only in the latter case is it instructional.  In the former case it is more concerned with discussing a concept and conveying an understanding either as a foundation for future exploration and self discovery, or as a means to be able to effectively navigate situations that involve those subjects.

When it comes to exploring new concepts and new ideas that we have never studied during our time in education, our success in these endeavours relies largely on the effort we put into learning and on the quality of the resources we turn to in order to learn about these concepts.  There is however a lack of verification and validation in this approach that is otherwise present in education.  Although the bane of most students existence, the presence of someone to tell you when you do something wrong is needed to ensure you actually gain an understanding of the subject that is accurate and succinct.

I have yet to find resources that are as effective for use in self teaching as structured education has been for me in the past which leads me to question how effective lifelong learning can be when it relies on self teaching which is inherently lacking in structure and standardisation, but also lacks the ability to verify the conclusions drawn are indeed correct.