Are you in charge of your own learning?
Well, to start with, you might say that you can’t be in charge of your own learning because the adults in your life tell you what you have to learn.
If you go to school, perhaps your teachers tell you what to learn.
If you’re homeschooled, maybe your parents tell you what to learn.
But there is something you can do to take charge, here’s what it is:
Don’t be a sea squirt!
I heard a brain scientist talk about how the brain works, and she said that if we don’t actively use our brains, we become sea squirts. When sea squirts are born, they are free to move about and find a good place to live. But once they attach to a rock, they’re stuck. They spend the rest of their lives filtering the sea water that comes their way.
Human sea squirts are people who give up on going out and getting what they want and just sit there letting life wash over them. Human sea squirts are watchers and consumers. They don’t talk about ideas and make things and seek out new experiences.
Be a squid instead!
If we’re going to keep up with our sea animal analogy, maybe you should try to be a squid.
A squid knows what kind of food it’s seeking and it goes out to find it.
When something threatens a squid, it uses the tools it has to survive and thrive. (It sprays ink, like some sort of deep sea superhero!)
So if you’re going to take charge, what will you do?
It’s your life
First off, remember that your education is for you. It’s not for your teachers and it’s not for your parents.
Your education is something you’re building now, as a kid, but it actually never stops.
Oh no! You mean I have to be in school forever?
No, what I’m talking about is something we call being a “lifelong learner.” Successful, happy kids are learning stuff all the time. Successful, happy adults are learning stuff all the time, too.
The reason they’re successful and happy is that they are in charge of their learning. Sure, sometimes they have to learn something because someone else told them to. But instead of resisting, they grab that learning the way they grab any learning.
Taking charge of your learning means knowing that you are learning for yourself.
And it’s something that only you can do. No one else can make you take charge, so it’s all up to you.
You are in charge!