Experience is Education
Education is more than just books and lesson plans. Education also comes in the form of experience. What is meant by experience? Experiencing life, including joys and sorrows gives one learning experience. Every experience can include valuable learning lessons.
Is Reading Sufficient for Education?
Any individual can read hundreds of books, and read from books from as many experts possible. While books and knowledge is necessary to be educated, experience is overlooked. Furthermore, some people learn best from life experience. One popular example of life experience includes learning to drive. One can read as much books on driving possible, but it is impossible to know how to drive unless one gets practical experience with driving a vehicle. On the contrary, it is impossible to be fully educated without reading, writing, and assessments. If a learner wants to be educated, then they should focus on theory-based learning which includes reading, writing, and assessments. This however, does not mean that one has to neglect their experiences.
Balance is Key
Good education comes from a balance between theory-based learning, and practical experience. Theory-based learning includes learning from books and lesson plans. Practical experience comes from action-based activities. Theory-based learning refers to learning that comes from books, or lesson plans. Experience does not always have to be something as grand as driving lessons, but it can include mistakes such as falling off of a bicycle, or having a credit card decline your purchase while making a transaction. Those types of experiences are not always planned, yet they include an opportunity for learning lessons.
Balancing both Elements
It is common for many people of all ages to be intimidated by learning through experience. Therefore, it is ideal to expose learners to theory-based learning before they start to gain experience. By exposing a learner to theory-based knowledge before experience, the learner gets a chance to be exposed to a certain topic, but some learners may feel overwhelmed if they are exposed to a lot of information. Practical experience makes some learners uncomfortable because they think that it is too risky.
What is the Solution?
There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution. In fact, some learners prefer to be exposed to theory based learning before practical experience. Other learners prefer to have practical experience before being exposed to theory-based learning. Furthermore, since every learner is different, some may learn best from theory alone, while others need experience. The point of this post is to argue that learning is not limited to one thing, but education can be found in several things such as experiencing. A lot can be learned from experiencing.