In this reading Lewis talks about the difference between education and learning. Education is the general learning for a person to become a good man, and learning is what is required for a person to become skilled at a specific task.
The main theme that goes throughout the reading is Lewis’ emphasis on us as individuals desiring knowledge and going after it with our own will. He talks about how the learning we get from the professors are so limited and they can even prevent us from acquiring something new. He says, “It is time you learned to wrestle with nature for yourself… our selection would be an effort to bind the future within our present knowledge and taste.”
This reading challenged me as Lewis puts so much emphasis on our attitude as we approach learning and the reason behind our studies. He says:
“Play to win and you will find yourself taking violent exercise; play because it is good for you and you will not. In the same way, though you may have come here only to be educated, you will never receive that precise educational gift which a university has to give you unless you can at least pretend, so long as you are with us, that you are concerned not with education but with knowledge for its own sake.”
This quote reminded me of what prof. Paulo said about grades in this class. He said he
didn’t want us to be so focused about our grades, because we can gain so much more than grades if we are willing to really learn.
The importance of what we are truly looking does not only apply with education and learning. As I reading this passage, I was reminded of what Lewis said about finding our identity and our relationship with Jesus in Mere Christianity. He said that if we fully follow Christ, we will be able find out who we really are. But if we follow Christ in order to find our own identity, we won’t find anything. When follow Christ for the sake of knowing Christ, that’s when we’ll find everything. He also says something similar to this as he talks about where our life’s focus should be on, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” It seems that what we are aiming is far more important than the specific activities that we find ourselves doing.
Thank you so much for this insightful post! You picked out a great quote about learning for knowledge and not just for a good grade. I also enjoyed the tie-in with our Christian faith. I think it is a very helpful reminder that we need to follow Christ and focus on Him instead of what benefits we can get from the relationship, and in time we will be blessed in ways we had not even imagined. I found this really encouraging--great job!
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