Confined Learning

Have you seen this tweet from Shakira, who rather than Instagramming herself in her private pool, which is probably bigger than my apartment, Avez-vous vu passer ce tweet de Shakira, qui plutôt que de s'instagramer dans sa piscine privée probablement plus grande que mon appartement, announces that she's taking advantage of the cancellation of her concerts to take a MOOC on Greek philosophy offered by Wharton University? This tweet is ambiguous: she expresses both pride and embarrassment. It's as if she's apologizing for learning, as if she's ashamed of not having more “practical” activities - that's the term she uses. You'd almost think Shakira was apologizing for being curious. A deep-rooted evil that no amount of instructional Roundup can completely eradicate. As the saying goes, “curiosity is a bad habit”...

The interesting thing about one tweet is the others. Here's a small selection: the one asking if she wouldn't be better off looking after her children rather than learning philosophy, this one “Finally, you've got a degree in something”, this one “Learning philosophy in four weeks, lol”. So much kindness... And thankfully, congratulatory tweets.

These reactions are a summary of the obstacles we see every day when it comes to lifelong learning: minimization of effort, devaluation of curiosity and proactivity, an elitist vision (you can't learn anything in four weeks), male chauvinism, limiting beliefs, a utilitarian vision of skills (they have to be useful for something), self-censorship (why would a pop star be interested in Plato?). It's a shame, especially when we know that learning agility is developed through rituals, a state of mind of openness and reflexivity.

Finally, a muse for employability optimists? A Miss Dior of MOOCs? A Gisele Bundchen of lifelong learning? Because this is perhaps what the world of employability still lacks to break the image that clings to it: an accessible, positive, friendly, mass-media, not complicated image. The opposite of its current image: bureaucratic, cold, boring, worrying, associated with unemployment and evaluation-sanction. At a time when invitations to take advantage of the current period to learn are multiplying, let's take advantage of this opportunity to transform the imagination of learning. What about a Star Academy for self-taught people?

P.S: the words lock-down and COVID-19 don't appear once in this editorial. It was a personal challenge.

Have a good read!