A colleague's mother-in-law refused to transition over from her cassette player to her CD player. Though both had the exact same symbols on the 'play' button etc, she was used to hitting, say, the second button on the left, without really ever noting the symbol on it. As a result, she couldn't get the new player to work.
My colleague blamed this on age, on the general reluctance to learn new things. While that could well be true, I think it's ironic, in a tragic way, that her mother-in-law's learning pattern closely mirrors the learning patterns of many kids today.
Their schools teach them the rules, what to mug up, how to get those marks which are the end purpose of any education. What about learning itself, the part where you're looking for answers out of mere curiosity, where you understand why you're learning something, and know to apply it in contexts that extend beyond your board exams or even your career?
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