Learning Curves

Last week I attended an interesting lecture on urban education.  One speaker in particular caught my attention when he talked about learning curves.  We usually think of the learning curve as a steadily upward rising curve, the more time and effort expended, the greater the sense of mastery.  Like this:




Now, it is not usually a straight line.  Sometimes the initial phase will be steep, followed by a slower increase, some times the initial phase will be shallow, followed by a steep in increase.  But, in this formulation the relationship between effort and mastery is always positive.

What this panelist pointed out was that often the learning curve looks more like this:


There is initial learning, followed by a dip, a period where you feel like you know LESS than when you started. He talked about this as being a period of "unlearning,"  a time when you need to reexamine preconceived notions and ideas, where you need to see new relationships and abandon old ideas.  The world doesn't work the way you thought it did.

The problem is that during this time you will feel vulnerable. You feel lost, unsure, and afraid.  If you aren't in a supportive environment you may never get through that stage. You give up. You feel defeated.  The subject is "too hard."  Good teachers/leaders/mentors can help.

I think this concept applies to so many situations in life, from learning a new language to learning a new way of thinking about yourself.  Being aware of those moments of vulnerability, and supporting others through them, seems to be one of the best ways to be a friend.

Magical Wardrobes

I've been thinking about wardrobes a lot lately, not my own wardrobe of clothes, but those magical pieces of furniture that seem to feature prominently in fairy tales and English stories.  The most famous must be C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,"  but they seem to pop up in lots of stories, Harry Potter included.




Why are wardrobes so much more appealing than closets as story elements?  I've never had a wardrobe, but I do remember playing in my closet as a kid. Is it only historical? Older homes didn't have closets, so wardrobes were needed.  But, what is it about them that makes them such strong characters?

Maybe they allow a safe place for imagination to take hold.  They are dark and mysterious, they are hiding places, they are filled with an odd assortment of stuff--old shoes, fur coats, silk dresses.

                                                                        


In wardrobes you can retreat to the womb, wrap yourself in a safe, warm, dark place.  In a small enclosed space you can hide from fears.  Wardrobes always seem so much bigger in stories, whole legions of children fit inside of them, but I've never seen one that big in real life.

But why don't closets hold the same magic?  Stories seem to use closets as places for punishment, where an adult puts a child, not where a child goes willingly. Maybe closets are too modern to be magical, too mundane and ordinary.

There are days I wish I had a wardrobe....
                                                                                                

Late night at the rest stop

I'm quite familiar with the highway rest areas in New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  Over the
years I've probably been in every one across the stretch of I-90 crossing those states.  I've seen them remodeled and refurbished, the food options expand, the restrooms improve.  Inside they represent a microcosm of American society.  At any time you will meet people from different ethnic groups all anxious for at least one of three things--a toilet, food, or gas.  Like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the rest stop places us all at our most basic level.

The rest stop late at night is a different scene.  The diversity is the same, but the groggy faces convey the exhaustion of late night travel.  Small children stumble in their half awake state.  Mothers ask for hot water at McDonald's to warm bottles.  Hyped up toddlers race around or collapse in tears.  Rest stops are not usually places for fun and games, but at midnight there are few smiles.  I wonder why these people are traveling at this time.  Is it a jump start on vacation?  Easier traveling while children sleep?  Emergency trips or last minute plans?