When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

So go the last two lines of every verse of the song “Where have all the flowers gone?”. Sobering thought, isn’t it? When “lifelong learning” has been emphasized for decades, do you sometimes wonder what the effects of learning are, or what they have been? “Knowledge is power!” has been proclaimed long enough. When will we ever learn that knowledge is not power, but mere bloviation? It is applied knowledge, or wisdom, that is power, not just knowledge itself. Granted, knowledge ought to be amassed each day, but how many are actually assimilating and integrating all that knowledge to good effect?

I think much genuine learning has been deliberately suppressed by dumbing people down. It’s the only way masses of consumers can be created to support the continuous production of superfluous “necessities”, meaning things that are not necessities at all, but which are made to seem so. Boring entertainment takes the place of genuine satisfaction. “Work-life balance” initiatives and workshops abound because people no longer see their work as an expression of who they are, but what they can get from it. If we have been truly learning, we ought to have attained a higher level of consciousness by now.

Think about it. Have you been applying what you have been learning all these years? Would you like to start if you haven’t? I encourage you to just do it. Get someone to help you if you have difficulty doing so!

Finally, if your organization prides itself as a “Learning Organization”, take some time to take stock of what your organization has really learned, treating it as a single learning organism. You might have some things to look into. Or more fun learning. Which do you think yours would be? You can choose! Choose lifelong learning!