Friday, August 6, 2010

Teaching Moments

Recently, we've been hearing a lot about "teaching moments."  For the most part, the recent wave - make that a tsunami - of TM euphoria stems from the furor, hubbub and hullabaloo over the Shirley Sherrod saga (if you have to ask what that was, well, you must be a Patriots fan).  Indeed, the President himself  proclaimed it a teaching moment of epic proportion. 

That said, I'm concerned.  It seems that we've adopted an expression whose consequence implies that we can package something, that just can't be packaged - into a sound-bite, bumper-sticker dimension. 

And that something is LEARNING.  

You see, learning is constant.  It's fluid, streaming and never-ending (if done right).  It's not a "momentary" thing, as it should stay with us well past a moment.  Heck - we even do it in our sleep, and subconsciously when we are awake.  We are always learning, because we are living.   And if we are living, we should always be learning.   

Sure - teaching as an act has its place, time and space.  It has moments. 

But learning - that's continuous.  It's the gift that keeps on giving. 

Learning is Good.