My oldest daughter is about to be a freshman in high school. (Yikes!)
Since she is homeschooled that means that I need to get a little bit on the ball about college. Because I want to understand the requirements for homeschoolers and be sure that I am tracking and recording and planning in a way that provides her with all of the "stuff" she will need to apply.
So I set about researching some colleges that she might be interested in (art program, small school, not to far away) and browsed around majors and courses and requirements.
At some schools, I found majors so perfect for her and so interesting I actually emailed them to her! At other schools, I loved the environment and thought she would love living there but then the courses that were required were just not things that would excite her.
I am so excited for the thought that in a couple of years she gets to browse through all this stuff and visit and figure out what she is excited to learn about and where she will want to do that.
I can't wait for her to continue to learn about what sets her soul on fire!
And then I had dinner with a few friends who have kids heading off to college.
And their excitement about college for their kids was entirely different.
It was about what job did they want to have 4 years from now and which college would hand them a diploma that was be the fastest ticket to that job.
The only excitement was about the campus and the sports teams and the sororities.
There was not one mention of being excited about what they would learn.
And that made me sad.
Because education is meant to be about learning.
It is about growing and questioning and exploring.
It is about becoming a lover of learning and keeping that love throughout your life.
Because the greatest minds do not stop learning once they are handed a diploma.
People like Elon Musk, Benjamin Franklin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Florence Nightingale,Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Henry David Thoreau, Nelson Mandela, the Wright Brothers, and Ansel Adams are just a few examples of lifelong learners.
They are (or were!) constantly seeking knowledge through experiences and mentors and books and classes.
They were curious and asked questions and sought answers.
They did not learn something as a means to an end, the learning was always the goal.
And what they learned they incorporated into their being and carried them along to the next great question or discovery.
But so many of today's kids don't know that the goal of their education is learning.
Learning about what lights their soul on fire.
Changing their being through learning.
Many of today's kids thing that education is about a test result, a grade, and a diploma.
They learn what they need to to get an A and then let the knowledge go. Because it did not change them. It did not touch them. They learned it because they had to, not because they wanted to.
My greatest hope for today's kids is that they change their beliefs about education.
That they stop looking at education as a means to an end.
That they start looking at education as an opportunity to learn about what you love from the very best and with the very best.
That they see education as a way to change their being.
That they seek to learn long after their formal education is over.
My greatest hope is a generation of lifelong learners.
So challenge yourself to stop taking a class or reading a book or asking a question because you think it is going to get you somewhere.
Challenge yourself to ask questions about things that you wonder about, talk to interesting people, read a blog or book for pleasure, take a class that excites you. Learn about things because you want to, not because you need to.
And never stop!
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