Learning to Learn

'Learning' and 'Learning how to learn' are two entirely different things. There is a subtle but fundamental difference.

• 'Learning' means - you teach a subject and they learn the subject. This involves text-books, assignments, exams, evaluations, marks etc. We think, a good teacher is the one who can get this done. All schools, teachers and curricula aim to achieve this.

I don't think one can be excellent in a subject unless one has mastered the skills that are required for learning - whatever may be the subject. So learning a subject alone without mastering these skills can take you only thus far.

• We should be actually teaching 'How to learn' rather than teach "a subject". This involves how to observe, how to articulate, how to take notes, how to classify, how to gather data, how to draw inferences, how to strategize, how to organize, how to reverse-engineer etc. To teach these skills we require very different exercises and syllabus. Further, these skills are so generic that acquiring them will help a student of any subject.

[ Thank god that these are 'set of skills' and not 'in-born traits', so there is hope that we can formalize these ]

I believe, teaching 'How to learn' would reduce the burden on teachers, as their job would become that of a subject mentor rather than being a watch-dog and micro-manager.

Individual teachers can probably make this shift in their class. But I have no idea how we can shift an entire school system from "Learning" to "How to learn".