The Two Legs of Learning

Education has two legs. Another way to say this is all learning takes place in two complementary ways. The first leg is unscheduled and independent. This kind of learning takes place through our natural engagement with our environment. Learning in this context relies on a synthesis of our experience and our faculty of memory. Most often we experience this kind of learning in work and play, usually inspired by curiosity and wonder.

The second leg, or second kind of learning, is scheduled and formal. This kind of learning relies on a body of knowledge, and a mentor to guide, instruct, and inspire its engagement. The second kind is deliberate and requires one to subject his independence to collective rituals and communal dialectic. 

Children begin their learning journey by stepping out on the first leg. They primarily employ mimesis (imitation or emulation), attentively watching and often copying the mood and antics of those who are part of their daily lives. It can be as natural as a baby cooing back in response to her mother’s cooing or as adorable as a toddler trying to walk in his daddy’s shoes.

But for that mimesis to become more sophisticated, the second leg of learning must soon be incorporated; otherwise, the unscheduled and independent learning will be stunted or narrowed, causing a proverbial limp. The purpose of the second leg is to reincarnate for the initiate the accumulated wisdom of history into each stage of learning because the breadth and depth of any single individual’s experience is naturally limited.

Imagine if each generation had to rediscover the knowledge the previous generation had accumulated but never passed down before they expired; or, consider how one’s experience can only be as broad and deep as his environment allows. This second leg necessitates the guidance of a magnanimous tutor in the engagement of both residual (static bodies of knowledge) and accretional (dynamic bodies of knowledge) literature.

Both legs of learning are necessary—as they are synchronized and interactive—at least until one reaches the point where he or she is autodidactic; that is, one who possesses the knowledge, desire, and ability to continue to teach him or herself. Being autodidactic is akin to running. As such, it is usually a feature of experienced lifelong learners. Even when lifelong learners opt to subject themselves to additional formal education, they do so intentionally in an effort to extend their stride or tone up a flabby learning muscle.

Typically, an autodidact is inclined to read the best that has been thought and written, engage regularly in meaningful dialogue, and sometimes expand his or her environment (i.e., the realm of their experience) by way of travel, the arts, or scientific experimentation—not because they have to, but because they are delighted to.