Learning is a physical act, a conduct. We do not learn from just thinking about an idea, we learn from doing actions that connect ideas to the real world. If we take away our conduct, learning becomes a void. We are just memorizing facts without connecting them to the real world. This is how racism and white supremacy influence learning. We are forced to learn information that is irrelevant, biased, or false and accept it for the sake of a grade, rather than learning.
In school, the learning process functions as a means to a grade; it does not replicate actual and authentic learning. We memorize content without much analytical thinking. For the process to function well and students to get good grades, little time or effort is devoted to connecting content to living and life situations.
When we allow conduct to be removed from the learning process and when content is not applied, we get rid of the only part of education that we own. What is better is not always the easier option. The opposite of learning is comfort. One must exert energy to learn. Satisfaction with discomfort allows us to grow and expand our practice and our theory.
We cannot let ourselves slip into lesser forms of learning because it is what is comfortable. Instead of allowing COVID to be the reason we lose our learning, let us use it to rebuild our learning process, take control of it, and own it.
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