Thursday, June 25, 2009

Lifelong Learners Dissent!

Reader Anne:
I disagree with the derogatory slam on "life-long learner". The phrase *is* overused, but I think anyone who is a teacher had better be someone who enjoys learning and does it all the time.... Being a lll doesn't *make* you a good teacher, but I've never met a great teacher who isn't a lll.

Reader Knaus:
Life long learner is a phrase I'm not going to give up. My students know that I work with them. However, they also know that I am always learning something. I share my new knowledge with them. I preach that everything they do is a learning experience and they should seek those out.

For the record: I completely agree with these readers.

It's not 'lifelong learners' I'm against; it's that term. It feels like a term created by a marketing coach or a governmental organization.

Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Walt Whitman, Picasso, and so many other folks could in retrospect be labeled 'lifelong learners'; though I would imagine that all of them would have cringed at the term.

I prefer terms like curious, engaged, active, and experimental.

I'm an adjective guy. I like words like fearless.

I like terms applicable to child and adult alike and devoid of the connotation of jargon. And I've rarely heard folks outside the education world use the term 'lll'.

I also like it when my readers challenge me. That's what a blogger lives for. Keep it up; keep my on my toes!

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