It’s popular today to talk about becoming “lifelong learners.” But what does that mean? What is a learner anyways? And what is learning?
Perhaps lifelong learner is basically synonymous with lifelong reader. In educational circles, we try to cultivate a love of reading that will stick with students into adulthood so that they read for a lifetime, learning along the way. Ergo, legere est discere—“to read is to learn”—or something of the sort?
But I’m worried there’s a danger in conflating reading and learning. We can all acknowledge there is a difference between reading the All-Purpose Baker’s Companion recipe for White Cake with Italian Buttercream and baking said cake. It’s the difference between learning about and learning. (On a related note, I’ll be baking my first wedding cake this weekend—thoughts and prayers appreciated!)
This past weekend we were in Vero Beach, FL, at my Gram Patty’s house going through some of her things. There was an edition of Milton’s poetry on the shelf with her copious notes down the margin. Gram Patty used to talk proudly about her brother Jim who was a jazz pianist. We discovered an old jazz LP in her collection with her brother’s face on it—except it had been defaced with a blue-pen goatee and this caption in her handwriting: “Ha Ha.” We’ve had it on constant rotation.
We also found this:
It’s one of dozens of detailed drawings from a spiral bound sketchbook dated 1953. Apparently, Patricia Andrews took an Entomology class at UNC Chapel Hill—as an English Lit major. She got a C+.
This kind of deep, cross-disciplinary learning takes more than books. There are bug parts still taped onto some of the pages! My grandma’s sketchbook is a reminder that learning requires exploration, artistry, memorization, and attention. Learning engages the mind and the body.
This is not to fault books—or reading. Reading helps us to learn all about things. But there comes point when learning about has to be giving a violent shove into actual learning. Eventually you’ve got to get your hands dirty—to try, to explore, to risk.
What if we read our books more like cookbooks? We expect a cookbook to drive us to real-world application. Why not other books? You can tell the best cookbooks in our house because their pages are spattered and wrinkled. All good books inspire us to live.
This is supremely true of the Good Book. James captures the distinction between reading and learning when he writes, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:18).
Do you live near Greenville, SC? We’d love to have you join us at The Hutch this Saturday June 24th for pancakes! We will be making free breakfast for neighbors and friends of The Hutch to celebrate the 1st anniversary of our little pie stand from 8:30-10am.
Come by and celebrate with us!