Being a good artisan takes learning years:
Cum exposure to strange but desired art-
By which experience builds up what fault clears...
Different from rote learning which is by heart.
Here, learning is at will; at your own pace-
Where no one dares compel you to learning,
Unless you see the need to be in race...
With yourself to hasten time cum earning.
Being a great artisan takes sacrifice:
To detect ability of rare skills,
And make it functionally suffice...
Enough to standout; quality fulfills.
There, learning is by quests; tough to handle,
Unless mistakes light its guarding candle...
Soft ivory pages, crisp and new.
Insulated from the world's harsh truths,
Snuggled in the comfort of rote learning, it waits.
Protected from challenging ideas,
Camouflaged as a bastion of knowledge,
Ignoring sounds of a changing world outside.
Each lesson absorbed, concepts released,
The slightest spark of curiosity dimmed,
Minds anchored to standardised forms.
Slow to evolve, the system creaks.
Returning to the safety of metrics,
Covered in a shroud of false contentment.
Coal-dark ink scans the ledger,
Nourished by the currency of test scores,
Effortless, true learning slips into the abyss.
A place where wisdom once flourished,
Embraced by the essence of inquiry,
Now mechanical, measured, misguided.
We too must remember,
The embrace of knowledge's true essence,
Living beyond the melting ivory tower.
"you don't need a weatherman...
to know which way the wind blows"
sayeth bob dylan's lyrics
all learn some innate knowledge
reasoning logic concepts
it is drawn upon at times
a lit mental spectrum
each one a different painter
choosing their concept colors
memorize is rote learning
not drawing on what's innate
to both see and understand
stan sand
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