Lifelong learning

One of the pieces of advice my father gave me, or rather one of his little aphorisms that stuck in my head was; "If you stop learning, you might as well stop breathing." Which, like sons do, I took to heart in my own way. Used to drive Dad nuts the way I often had my nose stuck in a textbook, because the learning he had in mind was mostly practical. For me, the learning process has covered a life full of evening classes, block release at technical college, and an Elephants Child's insatiable curiosity only partially slaked in libraries and technical manuals. Therefore when Mrs S sent me this article by Charles D. Hayes, I took an interest and found myself nodding along to much of the content.

Compulsory schooling, whose purpose is to outlaw ignorance, seems instead to have certified it on a grand scale. The anti-intellectual attitudes of millions of so-called educated people serve as living proof. More to be pitied than those who have fallen through the "educational" cracks are those who have been intellectually lobotomized in the name of learning. Marking time in lives of stultifying mediocrity, with no strong interests in much of anything, they put up with jobs they hate and pretend to enjoy the mindless entertainment they pursue to compensate.

Go have a look; be challenged.

For my part I am content. Youngest has arrived safely and is sleeping off her Jet lag. She dozed off last night reading our copy of Milan Kundera's 'the unbearable lightness of being'. I've just spoken to the landlord who tells me the pool is ready for use. The sun is shining. Our family is on holiday for the next couple of weeks.

I do so hope I'm going to have a nice day.