A driving school lesson: How Structured learning makes you a better learner
I am always a lover of structured learning over piecemeal learning from different instructors, whether it’s via YouTube or other media.
I started learning to drive, more like enrolling in a driving school to finalise my driving. I started with a manual transmission to satisfy my curiosity before moving on to automatic transmission.
During this process, I realised that a particular instructor was skilled at driving but struggled to communicate the desired action effectively. That left me to figure out what he intended to communicate and take cues.
This isn’t entirely his fault, though he still bears some of the blame. He most likely learnt in an unstructured way and took that broken approach into his own craft as an instructor.
For instance, when you are turning into a road, the depth of your turn depends on the proximity of the lane you are entering. I had to figure out his communication myself, including that, for a left turn, you actually need to step into the road before cutting your hand (for lack of a better way to put that).
What’s the takeaway in my story?
We live in a society where most people are merely figuring things out informally. To truly master a skill, you owe it to yourself to seek structured training, which would then help you organise and streamline all that you have learnt.
Comments