Alusine Barrie - my journey so far as a lifelong learner
My journey so far as a lifelong
learner
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| Alusine Barrie |
It is only recently that I realized through my quest as an
educator that I have sufficiently developed myself as a lifelong learner. I see
this as synonymous to the concept of growth mindset. I saw a likely source of
this being my step father who lived with us and would always bring children’s
story books and would read with us in bed until we fell asleep. He was always
ready to answer my numerous (and often bizarre) questions. In him and my mother
(who was uneducated but had great tolerance for questions) I found a safe place
to develop my budding curiosity.
I transferred to Freetown in 2009 and was given ample access
to numerous school resources (especially the internet) and an environment where
I felt safe to learn many different things. I was very excited being an arts
student as I loved literature, history and politics but I was also very much
interested in many other subjects. Often, I would find myself in the library
poring over all sorts of books - especially science. I could choose the
subjects and topics I wanted to concentrate on. I would find myself in the
computer room asking questions on internet explorer. It was quite addictive and
I even started teaching myself French and other online diploma courses while in
senior school. I graduated as an arts student and then studied maths in a
higher teachers’ training course.
Reflecting back on my life for this blog’s theme made me
agree with Clara (also a lifelong learner and a great friend) who told me ‘I
believe we are all born lifelong learners, it all depends on how it’s developed
and how some of us take advantage of it in our lives’. Traits like creativity,
intelligence, curiosity etc. are innate, we often unlearn them as we grow older
through society’s rules and dogmas. We have both been lucky to be born to
parents who fostered our childhood curiosities and found schools that helped to
develop this wonderful attitude.
Developing myself as a lifelong learner has given great
value to my life both personally and professionally – especially in my work as
a teacher trainer in EducAid. One develops a much wider perspective over issues
and it becomes easier to take multiple perspectives into consideration
simultaneously. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly for me, is the cascading
nature of lifelong learning. For instance, I easily dared to learn Spanish and
found it much easier to master the linguistic structures because I had spent
time before learning the structures of French – which are similar in many ways.
I am confident to want to study economics and computer programming (which both
require a healthy dose of mathematical reasoning) because I have developed the
prerequisite skills before.
One important characteristic shown by most lifelong learners
is that they would have a big goal but take multiple paths to achieving that
goal, and don’t mind taking another path if their current circumstances make it
difficult to achieve initially. A colleague A.A Kamara, has always modelled
himself as a lifelong learner and had this to say: it makes my point well: “I
wanted to become a lawyer but looking at my age and the amount of money
involved, I realized that it will be very difficult for me to achieve my goal
of serving my fellow Sierra Leoneans in this way. So now, I am building my
efforts in educational institutions where I can use the skills I have gathered
as a teacher to help others.” As we see, for lifelong learners failure in one
path is just an opportunity to continue into another path.
In conclusion: ‘we are all born lifelong learners’ and that
it is never too late to awaken that innate blessing. Never stifle a child’s
curiosity. Encourage children to ask questions. Give them many opportunities to
learn and help them find answers to their most bizarre curiosities. That way,
they may grow to become strong lifelong learners.
Lifelong learning is a journey; this is mine so far….
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