My mom is one of the bravest adults I've ever met because she is unafraid to be a curious novice. She retired from over three decades of teaching kindergartners, retaining the same sense of wonder and delight in exploration that characterized her students.
As a result, she has experienced retirement as an embarrassment of riches in adult education. Her typical week sees her immersed on a near daily basis in activities where she has joined and nurtured a community of learners:
- Collage
- French language practice group
- Book club
- Playing guitar with non-professional musicians (she was the lead singer of a Latin folk group in college!)
- Creating mosaic tables with ceramic shards
- Fused glass art
- Hand-crafted jewelry
- Watercolor
- Contemporary literature courses led by an emeritus professor
Each class requires the discomfort of accepting renewed vulnerability - she knows at the outset she is not going to demonstrate excellence in any new activity. Rather than deter her, this piques her curiosity.
I couldn't help but think of mom while reading a recent New Yorker article on the value of learning as an adult. The piece, by Margaret Talbot, examined adult learners and the traits that help or hinder their pursuits.
One fascinating case study was Nell Painter, a Princeton history professor who pivoted to visual art while pursuing a BFA at Rutgers followed by an MFA at RISD. Interestingly, she found that what separated her from her peers was being 60-something among 20-somethings.
As it turns out, there are certain qualities that make an adult learner thrive:
- Growth mindset (ability is not fixed but improves with effort).
- A commitment to serious mastery rather than a hobby (sticking with learning, especially when it gets hard).
- A forgiving learning environment (assume that while you can't do something today, you will eventually develop mastery).
- Develop a habit of learning multiple skills simultaneously instead of one focus at a time.
You'll notice that these are precisely the conditions under which my mom's kindergartners were asked to learn letters, numbers, cooperation and delayed gratification.
Becoming a novice learner as an adult involves replicating many conditions that made us apt learners as children.
But to truly succeed, you need to more than just the right environment. You need to dare to be terrible at something new once again.
My mom approaches the world with a deep curiosity, a willingness to be vulnerable and a studied indifference to whether she looks foolish trying something new.
The result is a life rich with the acquisition of new artistic skills, a community of like-minded risk takers, and a "retirement" that remains intellectually engaging and socially connected despite the absence of a formal workplace.