August 23
Not for school but for life should we learn — and we do the opposite.
Letters to Lucilius, Letter 106 (rearranged)
Listening mode
Not for school but for life should we learn — and we do the opposite.
Some knowledge waits for someone to ask for it. You can explain why asking questions in an argument often gets you further than defending yourself, and perhaps you even explain it well. In the argument itself, nobody asks you for it. There is only a sentence that hits you, and your answer is quicker than anything you know about it.
What can be explained has an advantage: it can be tested, by you as well. You notice whether you've mastered it before it matters. The other kind of knowledge shows itself only when you need it, and then mostly by its absence. No wonder you prefer to work on what gives you feedback.
That doesn't make what can be explained worthless. Often understanding comes first, and the ability follows years later, or not at all. Things only become difficult when you take the one for the other, because while you are learning, both feel the same.
At some point you don't interrupt someone. You notice it only afterwards, and you couldn't say where it came from.
