ENRICHING LIFE THROUGH LEARNING

June 29, 2015

The Harvard Report on “General Education in a Free Society” placed first in its list of objectives “training in the ability to communicate orally and writing the results of thought.”

To help the student accomplish this objective, the philosophy and aims of an educational institution are concerned with the education of the whole person — mind, body, soul and emotion.

All this should culminate with the realization that knowledge is unimportant without the ability to communicate and exchange it.

Ideally the purpose of an educational institution is to prepare a student to educate herself. An institution attempts to do this in three ways:

A. It exposes the student to philosophies, ideas and personalities (knowledge).
B. It teaches the skills the student needs to master in order to use his education and to continue his growth.
C. It provides opportunities for the student to begin producing creative or contributory products of her own stage of education.

Industrial skills training, however, has a different purpose.

Its aim is to improve those skills necessary for better job performance.

Since training is centered on skills acquisition, we can assume that the adult employees we encounter in our businesses and other organizations have already formed much of their value systems.

On the other hand, they are highly motivated to acquire the skills necessary for better job performance and the resultant rewards. Most of them have failed to learn in a traditional classroom lecture/reading/testing regimen and, along with their employers, are looking for a more effective way to learn.

It is here we find the promise and future of learning through multi-sensory media — learning that is both engaging and effective. Learning that is individualized and lengthens retention. Learning that can translate into promotions and “better lives.” Learning that actually works for both the organization and for the employee.

And, when combined with a solid education experience, effective training can help prepare the learner for a richer life of knowledge, service and reward.

As the motto of the University of Chicago states: Crescat scientia; vita excolatur
(“Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched”).