You can't learn well, if you can't do this.
At the root of learning is finding the right teacher.
How we learn
We learn everything through a teacher.
Most teachers come in the form of family members, professional teachers (K-12, University, tutors), learning material (books, videos, articles, online courses), unexpected life events, friends, significant others, colleagues, bosses, and mentors.
But, how can we proactively learn a topic well if we are never taught in school how to choose the right teacher?
Each one of us learns differently.
Who is the right person to teach me math?
What curriculum should I leverage to learn about investing?
Who is the right person to teach me programming?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask these questions before investing time in learning a new topic? Shouldn’t we be given a tool kit on the first day of school which teaches us to learn more about ourselves, our passions, our purpose, and then adjust our teaching-finding experience based on these inputs?
A comparison of new vs. old educational precepts
old view: Education starts with teaching a topic
new view: Education starts with teaching individuals how to find the right teacher
A Personal Example
I’ve had an unfair advantage learning how to learn because I ran a startup company for 5+ years. The startup journey forces you to learn quickly, because your money (and life) depend on it.
As a founder, I had to master software engineering and mechanical engineering. I had to develop a robust understanding of community building, marketing and public relations. I also had to also learn how to structure partnerships with major enterprises and foreign governments (and countless other skills)!
When you have to learn so many things on the fly, your brain is forced to get better and better at optimizing its ability to pick up new topics.
Learning Quantum Computing
Lately, Quantum Computing has caught my attention (I believe it will be an essential skill for software engineers in the future). So I decided to invest some time learning more about the subject.
Here is how I set out to learn more about Quantum Computing:
I perused the internet for hours in search of a Quantum Computing curriculum that excited me (well-planned curriculum, credible teacher, convenient format)
I honed in on a list of prerequisites I felt I needed to understand the material well
I reviewed my shortlist of learning choices (my primary goal was to hone in on a teacher who made the learning process extremely efficient–meaning this teacher would cover prerequisites elegantly and explain how they fit into the world of quantum computing)
I made a decision: Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing by Thomas G. Wong on Kindle
Why I chose this teacher
Wholistic perspective–great teachers provide a perspective on how a topic fits into the bigger picture (of an industry, topic, or discipline). In this case, the author explains classical computing in the first half of the book (which makes it easier for me to understand why quantum computing is so powerful, in the second half of the book)
Elegant coverage of prerequisites–the author weaves lessons on Quantum Computing math pre-reqs into the lesson chapters…which makes it much easier for my brain to pair my existing math knowledge with quantum computing topics
Format fits well into my life–I can study this material in my bed (this is not a topic I want to study at my desk during the day)
My brain was sorting through many other “micro-details” when making this decision, but for the sake of this article, the points above cover the most important aspects of my teacher-search.
The Result
Reading this textbook was exhilarating 🤓. I ran around my apartment with excitement after each chapter. I can now program my own quantum circuits? I can speak to a quantum computer? The material was so powerful that I felt an entirely new world of potential entering my being–which is what effective learning does. And this was all the result of knowing how to find the right teacher.
Self Esteem
We develop most, if not all of, our self esteem around how we learn something. Whether we succeed in academics, sports, or another extracurricular activity, it’s what we learn and how well we learn it that often governs our self confidence.
Many of us are stuck at a certain confidence boundary. We unconsciously believe we can not excel in certain areas of life because we failed to learn certain subjects. However, what we fail to realize is that it may not have been us, it may have been how we learned the material.
What if we learned a specific topic in a different way?
What if we were taught the topic poorly?
What if we had a different teacher?
So what change do we need to see? It starts with experimenting with new educational techniques, faster. One experiment that must be tested: does teaching students how to find the right teacher make a major impact on their ability to learn?
See my first educational experiment below.
SR