the big speakeasy

Jennifer Frahm very kindly and generously agreed to share some of her wisdom in my ‘learning’ category as the inaugural post on The Big Speakeasy. We share a similar attitude towards, and love of, education, organisational learning, and lifelong learning.  Jennifer has had a huge impact on my professional journey in the last six months or so – this blog being part of that – so it seemed perfect for her to write the first post here. Thanks Jen – you’re all kinds of awesome.           

So the lovely Susan asked me to write a guest post on ‘learning’. Yelp. I’ve struggled for a few days on this – but in the process of sifting through what to write, a few key proverbs kept coming back at me. And in hindsight, they are four proverbs that encapsulate my learning journey so far.           

You see, I’ve been both formal student and teacher for ten years now. I did my undergraduate, honours and PhD at QUT. I’ve lectured and tutored at QUT, Monash and University of Melbourne. But informally, the role of learner has been a stable and enduring role. It is a fundamental part of my work as consultant, coach and facilitator of Conversations of Change. 

 So I thought I would share the four proverbs with you.           

“As I teach so do I learn, as I learn so do I teach.”

This one’s my favourite. I heard it first on an Oprah episode when she was interviewing the divine writer and spiritualist Iyanla Vanzant. I believe the origins are with Roman philosopher Seneca. The expression felt like a really snuggly old cardigan, the type you just slip on and feel at home with. The more I think about it, the more comforting the cardigan is. You see, I don’t identify as ‘teacher’ per se – I facilitate learning, and that facilitation is always a two-way process. It’s why I love learning, the opportunity to pay it back – share the learnings with others.           

As a student, I would study by grabbing some of the cohort and setting up flipcharts and teaching back the subject notes in my lounge room.  Now, in my work as consultant and facilitator of Conversations of Change, one of the most satisfying aspects of the work is experiencing the dual sharing of knowledge.  I’ve posted about it earlier – a client I am coaching, starts coaching me in achieving my goals. There is such a generosity of spirit in the learning/teaching continuum.           

“When the student is willing, the teacher arrives.”

Score 1 for Buddha / Zen / Confucius. I’m not really sure of the origin, and I see it is attributed fairly broadly to various Eastern wisdoms, but it’s a goody. Who doesn’t get goosebumps when the unexpected lesson appears before you, from the most unexpected teacher? But the trick is in the willingness. We all have the ability to learn, sometimes we don’t have the willingness. It is such a good reminder of  how important our attitudes are to finding solutions, being open to learning, being humble and dampening ego. Some of my most useful teachers have been strangers, children, and the most random of conversational fragments.           

“Those who can do, those who can’t teach.”

Ok, I grew up with this one. Thank you Papa Frahm for probably one of the least useful proverbs about teaching. It’s not all his fault, I gather he was following Oscar Wilde’s lead.  As I was finishing high school I had my heart set on being an actress/director/writer. For one reason or another, I ended up in teachers college doing Dip Ed in Drama. Having grown up with that proverb, it shall come as no surprise that I quit after a year and ended up deeply depressed for some time. It’s an ugly little saying – when you then end up being a ‘teacher’ in a university, you have moments of despair thinking about the coulda, shoulda, woulda. But you can get to a point where you can say, no, it’s not always that way. Some people Do and Teach and Do again. Some people need to teach to keep their “doing” sharp. And can I just say (in case anyone is concerned for the family dynamics), Papa Frahm has always been the most proudest of papas regardless of what I was doing!           

“It doesn’t matter how you get the learning, it’s that you get it!”

Ah, well, I think this one was Oprah too, or actually Papa Frahm again. And you know what, it’s awesome. It justifies the watching of every crap TV show, the reading of every dodgy magazine. Pretty much every guilty pleasure is justifiable provided you have a learning out of it.  But seriously, it speaks to me for a number of reasons. How many students have I witnessed graduating clueless about what they have studied for three years? How many people have I met embarrassed that they don’t have degrees, but have been so diligent in self learning? My father left school at 12. I grew up with bookshelves crammed full of textbooks, encyclopaedias. He is still one of the most erudite and curious of persons I know.  After dinner, Dad would do the dishes and my brother and I would wipe. And we would be quizzed on antonyms, homonyms and synonyms. Or astronomy constellations.  Oprah, Womens Weekly, a kitchen in the 70’s,  QUT.  It really didn’t matter where we got the learning, but that we got it!           

So there’s my four – over to you, what are the sayings and proverbs that have influenced your learning journey? Share…

social bookmarking

Hide Sites