Keep learning

I learned a lot in school; at least, I was told it was a lot. My parents encouraged me to learn everything the school had to offer. My grades were stellar; most of my teachers thought I did very well. But there are huge gaps in my knowledge. I can see the gaps, and I’m trying to fill them.

I’ve been teaching my children for 25 years. In all that time I have continued to learn, above and beyond what I was taught. My mother had a good education for her time; she graduated from college in 1954 as a music major. The only science she had, she said, was home economics. No chemistry, no physics, no biology even. Obviously she learned enough to successfully navigate adulthood. She and my father together raised seven children and saved enough money to support themselves into very old age, with limited government assistance. They gave me money to cover travel expenses when I visited them in their 90s.

So it’s not vital to know everything to survive and even thrive. But man! There’s so much more to learn! I want to understand everything!

My youngest child is 16; he loves history with a passion. He once went up to a group of Boy Scouts he’d never met before and opened with, “Do you know what really caused the first World War?”

I get to listen in while he watches videos on lots of topics on Youtube. Together we have learned about Mary Seacole, John Snow’s research on cholera, the South Seas financial bubble in Britain, the kingdom of Majapahit, Catherine the Great, the Illuminati, and Robert Walpole. We’ve also learned about the World Wars, the Civil War, the 100 Years War, the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), the Spanish American War, the Falklands War, the war in Ukraine, the Crimean War, and the war against emus in Australia. We learned about the king of California, Ned Kelly in Australia, the first emperor of China, the Warring States period, Oda Nobunaga, Admiral Yi in Korea, the real myth of Mulan, and how various movies portray Chinese culture very well and very badly. We learned how the Europeans divided up the Middle East without any care for the people already living there. We learned how the Ottomans attacked Europe and were defeated.

There’s a lot more information available now than previously; there’s lots of research and writing about history. It’s being broadcast worldwide for our enjoyment and learning. Many people are very passionate about this. I feel we’re living in the best of times for learning; we can access lots of different opinions and check their facts against a multitude of other sources. It’s so cool!