Human life is simultaneously very brief and very long. It is very brief when you see it in the context of the number of millions of years that life has been on this planet. It is long if one alters the vantage point of vision and sees how life has grown on this planet from the basic self-generating stage to its present form of homo sapiens.
The homo sapiens begins learning from the womb stage and graduates to different stages through different stages of life. It finally begins withering away sometime after 50 years from birth and after he starts approaching 100 years. The Sanskrit Sukti (the good saying) has it “Jeeve Mae SharadahShatam” (May I live for 100 years). In other words, the cutoff is 100 years for human life, even, at the aspirational level.
Adulthood is broadly supposed to begin between 18 to 21 years. The pre-adulthood stage is generally taken to be a preparation for life, hence it is used for intensive learning, education and more. One generally is taken care of by the family and one is financially dependent upon them. It is understood and indulgently catered to. One is supposed to start earning in the post 21 age or the adulthood stage. Even during the adulthood learning never stops. But it is not the prime focus of the purpose of utilization of time.
Excepting that learning is a continuous process, one has to balance the pre-adulthood stage and the post adulthood stage; formal learning processes with informal learning processes.
Across the world in the pre-adulthood stage one learns language, numerals, calculations and life skills. This does continue even in the post-adulthood stage, but as remarked earlier it is not in such an intensive manner.
The proposition is further sharpened when the principles of life, as explained in the pre-adulthood stage, emphasize the pristine element more than anything else. Typically, one is taught “always tell the truth”. There are people who have seriously doubted whether truth can always be spoken in an ‘un-adulterated’ form. If it is attempted, it could cause on occasions violence and more. Whether one likes it or not, it is obvious that consequences of one’s act will follow. One has to weigh the consequences of the act with the act itself before opening one’s mouth. It is not only a personal choice but reality of life that consequences will follow.
The options in responding to a situation are always there, one can speak indirectly, one can speak ambiguously or one can speak through facial expressions or indeed gestures leaving the listeners to interpret. The options are many and the choices also have their price.
The skill is often labeled as tact. The art of being tactful cannot be taught in a class room. It has to be understood in the context and learnt through observation, good sense and practice.
Thus, it is that a lot of tact is an expression of a mature mind, sharp observation and the ability to observe and learn through individual initiative. There are no structured situations of skill learning. Skill normally comes through practice and observation and this is the significant differentiator between knowledge learning and skill learning.
Thus, it is that learning how to learn becomes an important tool and a critical life skill.
It may be useful at this stage to point out that notwithstanding the caveats proposed earlier, learning as an art can be conveyed through demonstration and example. This is where the distinction between teaching and learning tends to get somewhat blurred especially for some who have a poor vocabulary. It verges on learning high observation and practicing what one observes in others.
Thus, it is that skill becomes a growing and a critical part of oneslife’s practices.
The present national education policy rightly emphasizes the learning of skills. It is now required that meaning of skills be both widened and deepened to help one cope better with life.
Any discussion on ‘learning’ cannot be complete, without reference to “intuitive learning”. And this perhaps is the most subtle and inscrutable dimension of learning. It is in some ways the distillation all types of learning and involves the coming of play of “instinct”. One knows something because the mind tells one that it is so. There be no hard evidence for it but indications are to that effect. Very often the indicators of instinct come true. It is an area where much work still need to be done.
To sum it up there is so much that one knows about nature of ‘learning’ but there is always so much that still needs to be learnt.
