A Culture Of Learning

I think we all love to recite the saying that it takes a culture of learning within the household to raise a worldly and educated child.  I doubt though that many truly understand what that entails.  As I enjoy my week of vacation here on Fire Island, I’ve been spending a good amount of time the past few days with the family of a good friend.  And never before has it been so incredibly apparent why my friend is who he is.  It all boils down to something very simple, and it doesn’t take a punch line like “a culture of learning” to hit home.

A typical day here, on vacation I might add, starts with everyone up by 8AM, not because anyone has to, just voluntarily.  Everyone is down in the living room on couches or at the breakfast table reading, something, anything.  Some people use iPads, others laptops, and still some prefer the physical New York Times.  There is no watching of TV.  People talk about interesting articles they’ve read, there is light debate, people share interesting stories.

Everyone heads down to the beach a few hours later, they all bring their books, or iPads with e-books, or iPods with audio books.

They come home from the beach and lounge around the house, more reading.

After dinner there’s not so much reading, just drinking.

The point I’m trying to make here is that my friend has grown up his whole life watching his parents reading something, learning something, all the time.  And in this era of Jersey Shore, Us Magazine, and MSNBC, they don’t partake in any.  It isn’t because they aren’t allowed, their parents have just set an amazing example for them.  So yes, it is a culture of learning, but it’s incredibly simple.

I’ve written extensively here about how our educational system is broken, at many different levels.  But really, when I think about the people I know who are well educated, worldly, and generally intelligent, I don’t think first about what school they went to.  I think about who their parents were and what examples they set for them as children.

As a society we can put our efforts into building better schools all we want, and they will have a marginal impact.  But if we really want to effect change in underprivileged communities, it starts with parents, from day one.  I’m not saying I know the answer to making that a reality, but I am more and more convinced every day that it is the ultimate solution.  Without a culture of learning at home, children fight an uphill battle their whole lives.  With it, they are born on the proverbial second base of learning.

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