What are we afraid of?
Last week, Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services Bureau of Quality Assurance held their annual conference in Appleton, WI. In opening remarks, Helene Nelson, Secretary Department of Health and Family Services said something that really struck me: "Our fearfulness about learning needs to be set aside." She of course hit the nail on the head by saying we must overcome our fear, but what got me thinking was the fear itself.
Why are we afraid of learning?
Because we are. I happen to think it has to do with our wanting to be seen as competent adults. When we were young we thought adults knew everything and now, as adults we feel we have to live up to that and also be worthy of being seen as competent in our position, whatever that may be. So, if we were to be open to learning, that would mean we didn't know everything. I hate when someone asks me a grammar question and I don't know the answer. The one thing we do know, of course, is that nobody knows everything. (Aren't we weird that way?)
What do you think? Why are we (collectively) afraid of learning? Why are YOU afraid to learn? Admitting is the first step for change, right? Please share your answers in comments so we can all learn a little about learning. Maybe it will help us set our fear aside.
3 Comments:
I believe we are afraid of learning, because we do not want to be proved wrong in what we think we already know. Not knowing something does not make you look silly or stupid, not knowing something and then learning about it makes you look smart.
The reason I believe we are afraid of learning is because we learn of things that are not always comforting to know and grasp. We are also afraid of learning because we feel a sense of isolation and rejection. We learn of all the inequalities in the world, all the biased and prejudice that exists within society. We feel lost and isolated as we are no longer only members of a community, but we are members of the universe. We have this great understanding of the world and universe around us and it scares us. It scares us because we feel alone in having attained this perception. We often wonder if it is easier to live life not knowing. Is life not easier not knowing about all the disease, famine, war, etc. that exists in the world. Are we afraid of learning because we are gaining a better sense of all the evil that exists in the world. Sure there are several positive aspects to having this broadened perception, but to many people they just do not see the point. I am sorry if I am going on and on with the same point, but here I shall state my conclusion. My conclusion is that this fear of learning that many people face can go away. As the original post stated, many people are afraid to learn because "as adults we feel we have to live up to that". Learning about the world around us is all about the transition from childhood to adulthood. This stage is a crucial and extremely terrifying stage to go through, as I myself am currently going through it. But one must realize that they can overcome it. An excellent book that pretty much sums up this entire subject of being afraid to learn, in my opinion, is "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.
Years ago a I came across this statement: "A willingness to make a fool of oneself is one of the chief requisites for learning anything." It is hard to be a fool but necessary if we want to learn as an adult.
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