BY DR. GLENN MOLLETTE
There is more than one way to learn.
The formal method is the classroom. Elementary, junior high and high school. This is, of course, the minimum standard for our society today.
Many of us spent additional years in classroom study. Today, many people study online or via correspondence. There was a day when such a concept seemed ridiculous and even unacceptable, but now it is common.
Education does not always involve disciplined, classroom-style study. Another method of education is trial and error, or “doing.” We learn by doing. You can read about farming all day, but it is another thing actually to farm. Planting, tending and harvesting are learned by actually attempting the process. Anyone would be smart to work with an experienced farmer for a season.
Often, when we start doing something different, we mess up a few times, but that is how we grow and get better. We often fail and learn from it. This enables us to try again with a plan to do better next time.
We also learn by seeing. I saw the ocean on television but never saw it for myself until I was 23. I had heard about flying but had never flown until I was 27 years old. Also, I had heard about the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower but never saw either until later in life. Twenty-plus years ago, my wife and I experienced much of Israel and many of the religious sites I had read about, heard about and talked about for years. If I could have seen these sites when I was much younger, it would have enhanced my biblical understanding. You can read about a place, but it feels very different to see and experience it firsthand.
Another way to learn is by listening. Many people today cannot listen because they are always talking. If you listen to others, you will soon know everything they know, plus what you know. If you talk all the time, then you will not learn anything from other people.
Another way to learn is to experience what you do not like and then move forward to something else. You may learn that you do not want to own your own business. I have known people who have lost everything owning their own business, including all their retirement savings. Or you may learn you simply cannot work for someone else and that being your own boss is the only way you can survive. Either way, you often learn it after a few years of experience.
Regardless of your status today in life, keep in mind that we all have lots to learn. We never know everything. The older we are, the more we realize how much we do not know. Keep reading, doing, listening, trying and keep learning.
Dr. Glenn Mollette is the author of 15 books. He graduated from Georgetown College, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky, and founded Newburgh Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana. His column is published in more than 600 media outlets nationwide.