Education at a Glance

     My wife presented me with a very interesting quote today that she just knew that I would love. This is due to ideals that I am always speaking on when we have one of our random "educational" discussions (yes...we do that). The quote is this...

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
​                                                                      - Albert Einstein

How genius is that?!

​     It is an indictment on how we publicly educate. Using the same mold and trying our best to stuff uniquely gifted children into it versus discovering where their genius lies and teaching to it. Granted, we have to educate some generally accepted standards, but we should incorporate ways to bring out a child's gift and area of ability.

​     The same applies to adult learners in the workplace. We typically stuff people into a box of either being auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. We say, "you HAVE to be one of these". The truth is, most of us represent a blend of these generally accepted learning methods. This is why training is most effective when we incorporate all three methods into our learning activities. It increases the likelihood for retention, understanding, and more effective knowledge transfer. We don't "tell the FISH to climb a tree", as it were. You give the fish water and tell it to swim, and give the tree to the monkey and tell it to climb. Each gifted in their own way...like people!

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