Limitless Learning

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince is a good starting point to differentiate adults from children. We all start off as tiny curious beings.  But adults often lose the magical power to see the “truth” through a child’s eyes.  As the Little Prince said, “All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.”

Adults have a sense of truth largely shaped by baggage (experience) and filters (biases).  This colors their perceptions and thinking.  In stark contrast children come into the world “not knowing better.”  They tend to be more open to wonder and ponder without self-imposed limits.  The kaleidoscope of the world fascinates them.  Children don’t have much baggage, so they color their perceptions quite differently from adults.  Many adults walk through a landscape dominated by fear of making mistakes, failing, or of being wrong.  And unfortunately, many children will quickly learn and follow the examples of these adults.  Many will “grow up” and not remember their earlier days.  Along the way, many will lose their curiosity, playfulness and the wonder of the world.  They will grow up to be fearful or inhibited adults. And perhaps this is the fundamental truth: Many parents and teachers limit a child’s education (intentionally or unintentionally) because of their FEAR that the child will unveil the adult’s short comings and ignorance.  Rather than celebrate the child’s joy and learning, some adults hide behind the shield of curricular authority and officialdom.  What some children learn from this is to self-impose limits on their ability to learn.  This is perhaps the most tragic lesson of all.