The Greatest Learnings in Life Are Not Acquired in Classroom With Walls
“The world is a classroom – life is the teacher and the subjects are learned everyday from the successes, failures, changes, twists, turns, surprises and contradictions – some brought about through choices and others pre-ordained by destiny,” so alluded Eugenie Mitchell. To Harvey Mackay, “A student of life considers the world a classroom.” Let’s reflect on the world as a classroom.
Do you know that the greatest and most helpful lessons about life are not learnt in the classroom with walls or in a formal school? The implication is that if you rely solely or mostly on what you learn in school to make a life, you would miss out key information and knowledge that would have been quite helpful in living a fulfilled and successful life. As Thomas Merton noted, “The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom.” And just as the world is a classroom, there are countless teachers in the worldly classroom and your willingness to connect with them, learn from your encounters with them or even recognize them as great instructors can make a big difference. Can you imagine what great teachers you can find in disappointments, mistakes, failures, successes, challenges, friends, enemies, etc? Each of these teachers presents great lessons that manifest as helpful experiences outside the classroom with walls. That might have been why Haruki Murakami declared, “The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school.”
So, make a decision to expand your classroom beyond the four walls of schools to the limitless walls of the world. As Jack Hanna said, “The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience, seeing something with our own eyes.” As good as formal classrooms may be, John Ciardi added, “The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it.” So let your venture through formal education be the pathway to the unending learning the world offers rather than a barrier to learning from life events and encounters. Be conscious, as Albert Einstein said, that “Learning is not a product of schooling but a lifelong attempt to acquire it.” Explore every opportunity to learn. Learn from friends, colleagues, neighbours, observations, events, etc. Learn at work, on the road, in meetings, at occasions, etc. Whether you’re a teacher or not, explore opportunities to deepen other people’s knowledge through any classroom the world offers you.
As you step out, train yourself to be in the endless classroom of life. Utilize every available opportunity to learn, to teach, to be better, to act more productively, to reason more objectively and to devote more to being a better you every new day.
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Dr. (Engr.) Esang Esitikot is a COREN-registed chemical engineer, an HSE professional, a public affairs analyst, marriage counsellor, youth mentor and volunteer lecturer at the Institute of Health, Safety, Security and Environment, University of Uyo. He works for an international oil company and can be contacted via 08035103559 (Whatsapp only).
