Stephanie Jones (Edison): Unlearning

11. February 2010 by student.

I am normally one of those people that do great on tests.  I can memorize data.  I can spew out facts.  However, I usually use learn what I am supposed, test well and never look at it again.  I like the way this class is set up because I have found myself looking up information about subjects, and reading sociology books for no other reason than something caught my interest in class.  Since I don’t have to spend time memorizing data, I find myself exploring more about the subject.  I have heard of this style of teaching before but never really experienced it first hand.  I came across the concept of learning called ”unlearning” while watching Wife Swap a few months ago.   The parents felt that they would teach their kids by letting them pick out what they wanted to learn.  For example the father would take the 2 girls to the park and they would take pictures of different plants and bugs.  When they got home they would look up the plants and bugs on the Internet.  They had fun learning and were probably retaining more knowledge than the average student.  The parents were intelligent (the mother was a doctor), so it wasn’t a case of parents just letting their kids do whatever they wanted.  This concept if used more universally, would actually lead more people doing what they love and being open to new ideas.  There is a quote I like: “The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and re-learn.” – Alvin Toffler 

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