Freedom + Experience ∑ Education

purpose: (noun) "the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists"

method: (noun) "orderliness of thought or behavior; systematic planning or action"

Purpose and method. Reason and action. Motivation and system.

I am a strong advocate of Experiential Learning Theory – a profound theory of learning that focuses on learning through "reflection-on-doing" while incorporating previous life experiences. It involves being creative in the learning process and constructing meaning from experience.

It isn't that this learning theory is kind of fuzzy or that it needs to be proven. Good common sense and recalling one's own previous learning experiences will support that one’s personal “theory of learning” is morphed into "proven reality" when it comes to Experiential Learning.

And I think we can all agree that experience is an extremely powerful teacher.

“The only purpose of education is freedom; the only method is experience.” – Leo Tolstoy

This quote by Tolstoy inspires a moment to take a pause with a cause. Learning. Anyone who has trained themselves to write in cursive or who has memorized the multiplication table knows that a certain amount of systematic application is required in mastering this type of learning.

And what about the wonder of learning the phonology of vowels and consonants to decipher meaning from squiggly symbols that comprise an alphabet that have been written on a page of paper? It truly is amazing when you think about how our brains can compute words seemingly instantaneously by merely glancing at a system of lines and curves on the page.

If you have ever learned how to solve quadratic equations or how to diagram a sentence into its grammatical parts, you also know that there is a specific orderliness of thought that occurs. Method is involved in so much of what we learn and in so much of the experimental aspects of learning; method is required in order to engage in critical thinking. In short, method is crowned King when it comes to learning.

And then there is purpose, method's mighty Queen. When I think on this, I can't really say that I consistently and consciously attach the notion of active purpose to all of the learning that I engage in. Even while earning various degrees, I am trying to recall if I knowingly and meaningfully attached significant purpose to method that went beyond the usual: advancing my career, helping others to learn and grow, making a difference in the community, linking the symbiotic nature of the study of phonology and phonetics (Which to learn first? . . . a true chicken-egg conundrum) and maybe even upping my salary a bit.

Now? I am wondering if I put my own True Self into the Equation of Education. If I re-wrote Tolstoy's quote into a parallel mathematical equation, this is how it would look:

Purpose + Method ∑ Education

And in the methodical world of mathematics, you could re-write this equation as follows:

Purpose = Education - Method

or

Method = Education - Purpose

[Are you still with me? I hope your eyes aren't glazing over. This isn't math, just a parallel universe that requires no calculating.]

In that Purpose and Method are individual aspects of being human, let's call Purpose and Method variables and employ a little substitution using Tolstoy's quote while we're at it:

Purpose = Freedom

Method = Experience

and apply the substitutions accordingly:

Freedom + Experience ∑ Education

and re-write the equation once again:

Freedom = Education - Experience

Experience = Education - Freedom

If you think of Freedom as being free to do something entirely brand new – something you have never tried before . . . well, that sort of does break the rules of applying any previous experience to the learning experience.

For example, I have never jumped out of a plane with a parachute on my back. I have no experience in my past that I can compare this new experience to. Driving a car? A first kiss? Learning how to ride a bike? Balancing on a pair of ice skates? I don’t think any of these really equate to doing something as daring as jumping out of a plane.

Still, I do recall being terrified the first time my big brother pushed me down our steep driveway while frantically trying to keep my balance on a bicycle. And what about that time I was learning how to drive, and I tried to engage the clutch on my brother’s ’50 Ford pickup while stopped at a red light on a steep street in Seattle? Sheer terror swept through me each time the engine died.

Regardless of the danger factor, many of our experiences are all so brand new that it isn’t fair to rank or grade them. All are expressive of my freedom to choose something totally new and different from what I have learned in the past and venture into new territory. Such is the power of learning.

If you think of Experience, you can think of it as moments from the past that you have lived. There are no more opportunities to change what was. Your "what was" has created your "what is."

In the past, you have created brand new experiences and you have also repeated experiences from the past, be they excellent decisions or insanely repetitive mistakes. Still, they are experiences that are no longer in the "I am free to do anything I want in this moment."

They are done and they are no longer free.

Still. They do not define who you are today . . . well, wait . . . actually they kind of do if you believe that you can learn from previous experience. But. There is nothing stopping you from exercising your freedom to do something new. Be someone new. Learn something new.

I'm spinning myself into a whole new world of thinking that makes sense internally but not so much when I put it all into words.

Learning. Education. It's all a mash-up of what we have done and who we want to become. Life is one big Educational Experience to which we allow Purpose to drive us and allow Method to be the vehicle that is going to get us to where we think we are going. It's all one big moment of Now that is an educational opportunity to do something that will make a difference.

Now. It's all we have. What's stopping us from being brave and relying on previous successes and learning something completely new today?

The clock, our choices, and our willingness to keep trying, doing, and learning is what will keep us exercising our rights of Purpose and Method, Freedom and Experience.

[definitions above from Google “define: . . .”]