And then there are things I just didn't need to know.

I'm going to try to put this delicately, but there is an entire world of language out there that is totally separated from typical, non-naughty people's vocabulary. I'm not sure whether Webster has a separate book for all these terms, or if one should even exist, but even without it, we have Google to shed some light on these 'new' words that may come up. A Master Trainer I know was giving a talk today and shared with me the term "boofing" that she picked up from the employees she was training. I won't provide the actual definition here, but if you put the term into any search engine, you'll get some interesting answers. Some have to do with kayaking, but others: not so much.

I share the term not to be offensive, but to ponder WHERE DO PEOPLE COME UP WITH THIS STUFF??!! Someone had to figure these things out somehow. For example, at some point, someone decided to put corn over a fire and they learned that it pops. Someone had to be brave enough to taste it, and they didn't die. Luckily we learned that corn is better when cooked because it turns out humans really don't get any nutrients from raw corn.

Often education is a result of an accident. We tilt back in our chair at school, the chair falls out from under us, we hit the floor, we think twice before doing that again.... But sometimes someone just says, "I wonder what will happen if I stick this in here..." and they try it and they find out. It would be interesting to figure the percentage of how often either path leads to failure, injury, or death - but I suppose there really is no way to measure 'stupid human tricks'.

Overall, this reinforces the fact that learning happens anywhere, anytime. Those who say they hate learing are often the ones who learn better using experiential methods. They don't really hate to learn: they simply dislike reading and writing and sitting still. Learning takes place all the time in many forms. Sure, sitting in rows of desks in a school is the 'safe' and 'normal' way to learn, but it certainly isn't the only way. If it were, we'd still be wearing animal hides and sleeping in caves.