📘 Part 3: Learning

This episode's vocabulary

Constraint (noun) - something that controls what you do by keeping you within particular limits.

Spreadsheet (noun) - an electronic document in which information is arranged in rows and columns, and can be used to do financial calculations and plans.

Contingent on/upon sth - depending on something else in the future in order to happen.

To deem (verb) - to consider or judge something in a particular way.

Literacy (noun) - the ability to read and write.

To intervene (verb) - to intentionally become involved in a difficult situation in order to improve it or prevent it from getting worse.

Transmission (noun) - the process of passing something from one person or place to another.

Downside (noun) - a disadvantage of a situation.

Facet (noun) - one part of a subject, situation, etc. that has many parts.

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Questions and Answers

M: Alright, Rory, make some noise.

R: Hello! It's me!

M: Raw, Rory, raw!

R: Oh, no. That sounds like a lot of effort.

M: Okay, let's talk about learning.

R: I don't think it is. It's just they have to, well, narrow their focus because of time constraints, as well as the relevance of the material or the subject. I imagine many people have dinosaurs, for example, but might not have the time to learn about them to as greater depth as they had before they had jobs to worry about. At the same time, no one really wants to learn about spreadsheets, but it's kind of essential for many people's jobs.

M: Why don't adults usually like to learn new things?

R: I'd imagine for the same reason as children, it's not particularly relevant, or at least it doesn't seem so. Or it doesn't seem interesting. Adults can be, well, they can get bored, too, you know?

M: And what about children? Why don't they like to learn anything new?

R: For the same reasons. I don't think adults and children are that different in that respect. It's just that adults have greater reserves of patience when it comes to dealing with boring stuff.

M: And what are the reasons?

R: What, why they don't want to learn? Well, like I said, it's not it's either it's not interesting, or it's not relevant. These same things apply to children.

M: Is it the government's responsibility to assist people in learning?

R: That's probably contingent on what's being learned. If it's an area that's deemed to be a national priority like literacy, then, of course, the government should fund and support this, and many of them already do in state schools. If it's something that's more niche, or just learned out of interest, then it's perhaps not the most important thing that governments should intervene in and provide funding for.

M: And why do you think some people stop learning at some point in their life?

R: Well, I think it's always one of the two choices either because it's no longer relevant or because it's not interesting. It's always going to be like that. It doesn't matter how old you are, these are the two primary reasons why people stop learning, or they're dead, and they can't do it anymore.

M: What are the differences between education in the past and education today?

R: I suppose it's less about the transmission of knowledge and more about the construction or sorry, the CO construction of it for starters. So teachers and students are more likely to work together on things rather than just students passively learning about it or being told about it. And there's greater room, or greater room for and appreciation of student voice. And oh, in addition to, well, there's greater variety in terms of materials. I could go on. Because actually, I think a great deal has changed. But I'll stop there.

M: And do you think this is for the better or for the worse?

R: I think, well, all the changes in education are designed for the better. Whether they work out that way is up for debate, because the mechanism is so poorly understood.

M: What are the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning?

R: I used to think there were only downsides, to be honest with you. However, it turns out, there are actually quite a few advantages. It's convenient for one thing, and it's more time-efficient. Since that you, you can just sit on your computer and join a class at the touch of a button and there's no travel time involved. Moreover, the material can be presented in a variety of ways. I suppose the downsides are if you have poor equipment that will be hard to get, well, it will be hard to access the content. And it isn't very healthy to be sitting for long periods. But such difficulties are, well, relatively easy to overcome.

M: What will people have to learn in the future?

R: Well, I'm not a fortune teller. So it's difficult to say with any great degree of accuracy. However, probably something to do with technology. I think that the role of technology in our lives is just expanding into sort of every facet of them. And I think as in addition to that, we'll probably need to learn more about ourselves and our own health and well being just because that's something that people are developing an increased awareness of too.

M: Excellent. Thank you so much, Rory! We've learned so much from your answers!

R: I hope so!

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