We have all been in ‘the classroom’. For some a refuge and brief respite from the turmoil of the office; for others a world they have never left for the reality of the outside world; and then for many, a world escaped and to which they have no intention of very revisiting.
But we have all been in the classroom and so the question, ‘what then constitutes good learning?’ or to put it another way, ‘how best do we learn?’ – is an important question. Never before has so much been invested in executive education, yet it seems, if we are honest, much of it is a waste of both time and money. A ton of information, detailed curriculum and notes…but real learning? I think not.
The problem is we – those responsible for the education, have opted for the safe, the broad road, the one more traveled. We have pandered to the stated measures of the client, measures that somehow do not, or perhaps cannot, measure effective learning.
What if effective learning is like disciplining a child. Parents, have you ever had this experience: At the point of disciplining your child, however you choose to exercise that discipline, your child turns to you and says something like: “Mom / Dad, thanks for that – I know it was for my own good and I know it hurt you more that it did me…thanks-you!”.
It is time for the classroom to become an experience, a laboratory, a playground. We need to be doing things differently. We need to learn, really learn – and ask some hard questions as just to what that will take.