Education and learning. Are they the same or is there a difference between the two?
While education is an integral part and an outcome of learning, learning by itself is the most fundamental fabric of life. If we pause our thoughts for few moments and rewind as much as possible in the past, a flash of all that we have learnt until now would appear.
Swimming, cycling, driving, sports, arts – we learnt these and many other ‘activities’ unwittingly. We were not aware that each activity was higher education at that point in life. But wait. Knowing how to drive is learning? Ummm?
If we break down any type of education, any learning to its bare minimum, we would discover the nucleus – information! Yes. Through information we learn. We acquire information about specialization in studies, achieve graduation / post-graduation at the college of our choice, make a successful career, own that fast car and be in the fast lane.
At every step, information leads to learning. Of course, an individual’s own interests and orientation plays a vital role too in using the information in appropriate ways. But you don’t have to blindly believe in this.
Read – or rather ‘learn’ – about famous people. You’d discover that every one of them has a huge library and they never stopped learning. They knew the established science to this phenomenon – learning rewires the brain!
Learn a new skill. Don’t take your hobby lightly. Or too seriously. Pursue it. Just the way you would be pursuing overseas education. Life’s situations will also eventually do their part in ‘teaching’ you a few things, but that’s not under your control.
What you can, should and must do is learn. And then learn some more.