There are plenty of reasons why “learning online” can be hard to do. First
of all, you need a device which will connect you to “online,” such as a
computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Second, you need to have
sufficiently broadband WiFi access. Third, you need to be able to hook
into high quality teaching platforms. All of which cost money, lots of
money depending on your geographic location and/or other barriers. Yet,
all of these obstacles can be overcome with, you knew it, money.
Therefore, in a civilized country, or one which prides itself for being highly
developed and prosperous, (in my humble opinion), it should be the function of
the government to take care of these costs, just as it is the obligation of the
government to provide decent education, at least up to 18 years of age, free of
charge. If the government does not cover these costs, then the cost is on
the parents of the students, or on the students themselves or friends and
supporters of the students who are willing to take on that burden. As we
all know, in this “highly developed and prosperous” country, none of the three
online learning cost categories as stated above are taken care of by the
government. Maybe some efforts are being made by schools providing
computers or the like to students. That’s a good start, but by far not
enough, for it ought to be provided to ALL learners, anywhere in the
country. Plus the WiFi and the choice of quality learning platforms are
still missing. So, for the time being, and in most of the rest of the
world, particularly less developed and less prosperous nations, the cost is on
the parents and/or the students themselves. My conclusion of this sad
state of affairs, and my recommendation is that the population at large should
muster its political power and make the government take on the responsibility
for making it possible for everyone anywhere to obtain a high quality education
online. It would solve a lot of other problems at the same time.
Primarily cost. The cost of education should dramatically decrease vs. the
present modus operandi. Even the worst health risks, such as coronavirus,
would be entirely eliminated.
Yet there is one more impediment to learning
online, and maybe plain learning itself, one which has nothing to do with
money. That is: the curiosity and will to learn anything.
Although,
by design, human nature is such that it is curious and wants to learn things,
skills, language, math, what have you, yet, somehow, for many of our natural
curiosity and willingness to learn gets dumbed down by environmental factors,
such as poor nutrition, deprived living conditions, miserable company, stupid
examples, boredom, political chaos all around, and many more. Therefore,
the very prime challenge to meet is to make up one’s mind to learn, learn how to
learn, and then keep learning. All of which costs no money and doesn’t
require your government or anyone else to pay for it. So, here goes:
Being
able to learn, and the act of learning, means being mindful. Yes,
“mindful” like being conscious or aware of one’s thoughts, emotions, feelings,
physically and mentally, without judgment, focusing on the present moment, for
example breathing, meditate.
In other words, to meet this challenge, the
very first step is to set up your mind to become mindful. Once you are,
learning will be natural, easy, even a pleasure.
eMindful (Yes, that’s a company
in Florida whose business is mindfulness) has set up a web site for us which
will help you to become more mindful and learn how to learn, easily, naturally,
at no cost (at least for 90 days).
Enjoy>
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