Learning to Learn

In summary: we must learn how to learn, which means learning by both separating and connecting, analyzing and synthesizing:

• To consider objects not as closed within themselves, but as systems communicating with each other and with their environment, this communication being a part of their organization and their very nature.

• To move beyond the linear causality, of "cause and effect," and learn about mutual, inter-relational, circular (retroactive, recursive) causality, as well as the uncertainties of causality (why the same causes do not always produce the same effects when the reactions of the systems they affect are different, and why different causes can lead to the same effects).

• To seize the challenge of complexities that comes from all areas of knowledge and action, and the thoughts of one`s own capabilities of facing this challenge.

Such a mode of thinking requires the integration of the observer into their observation, meaning self-evaluation, self-analysis, and self-critique. Self-evaluation should be taught from elementary school, focusing on how errors or distortions can occur in even the most sincere or convinced testimonies, how the mind obscures facts that disrupt one's worldview, and how one's perception of things depends less on the information received than on the structure of their thinking process.

Morin, E. (2020). Enseigner à vivre. Manifeste pour changer l’éducation. Paris : Actes Sud.