The old man turned towards the blackboard and reached for a piece of chalk. For the first time, notebooks opened and caps lifted off from many pens.
He wrote just one word, L-E-A-R-N. Learn. "Please put your notebooks away," the teacher implored. "You will not need them. The core of learning is listening, you hear? You must listen to what is being taught! When we couple listening with thinking about what is said, we begin to gain some understanding based upon this new information and our previous knowledge and experiences. Once we have some understanding of a topic, we can use that information to help understand other topics."
"In this course, L-E-A-R-N, 'Learn,' is our foundation word. It is the key to "The Obstacle Course"; it is the key to life. We are all learning things constantly, yet we only choose to recognize the learning process when we are in classes in school. Even then, as you, my friends, know, we tend to complicate matters by adding some structure and form to the process -- things like syllabuses, published reading lists, and ... yes, believe-it-or-not, grades!"
"Remember when you were all children?" he asked. "Wasn't it FUN when you first learned the names of people, places, and things? Wasn't it FUN when someone asked you what color something was and you guessed... and you were right!? Wasn't it fun when words in books started to make sense and symbols that you learned were numbers started to add up to other numbers... and you understood it all!?"
Heads started nodding in agreement.
"For most people, learning is FUN!" he exclaimed. "For many people, learning continues to be fun -- even till the day they die -- because we, as human beings, have a natural curiosity about things. We gain a sense of excitement from understanding the world around us and from using our understanding to influence our individual and collective relationships with society and our environment."
"Unfortunately," Dr. Acton continued, "Many of us get turned off by the structure and form of the learning process itself and by the many pressures that are often placed by well-meaning people upon us. We tend to rebel, and 'learning' somehow becomes no more fun."
More heads nodded in agreement.
"Now," he continued, "Our first couple of classes may have seemed a bit odd to some of you... no, probably all of you... but I hope I have made a few things clear."
Dr. Acton then wrote on the board:
(1)If you want this course to be helpful to you, open your mind to it.
(2)'Uncertainty' stops many people from accomplishing things; You did not allow obstacles to block your path, and you are learning here today.
(3)Sometimes we all need to think.
(4)Sometimes we need to ask.
(5)Sometimes we need to ask again.
(6)We must focus our minds to learn that which we are seeking to learn.
(7)We must learn by earnest, thoughtful action.
(8)We must not let interruptions block our course.
(9)Leave your worries at the door; you will do well.
(10)'Learn' is our foundation word. It is the key to the "Obstacle Course". It is the key to life.
(11)At the core of learning is listening.
(12)For many people, the learning process itself becomes an obstacle.
(13)Remember, learning is "FUN"!
We sat astonished as Dr. Acton filled the entire blackboard with these 13 messages. Why 13?! Probably coincidence, but after these first few classes, we weren't so sure. We were amazed that the old man wrote everything down, one point after another, without hesitation... and without any notes!
Furthermore, he insisted that we not copy the information from the board. "There's plenty of time left for the class. Read it to yourselves over and over again until you're sure you have the gist of each message," he said. "See you next week!"
Then he swiftly grabbed his portfolio from the desk and walked quickly to the door.
"Oh, it's jammed shut!" he said. The "trick" worked. Got him! It was difficult to conceal our smiles, but he probably thought we were just surprised, too. It was funny.
What would Dr. Acton do now? Boy, were we curious... we were stuck in the room, too!
