Knowledge Vs. Information

   I was in interesting discussion the other day about education. It started by talking about the way budget cuts are affecting education and what the future will bring. They are dividing the majors our state university system offers to different regional branches. so if I want a degree in English I might have to go somewhere different than if I wanted to get a degree in engineering.
   Rather short sighted as students in this state can go out of state for the same tuition and it is probably more to their benefit to get their degree from a bigger school that is equally distant from home but has a better cost of living.
   Distance education might be more prevalent in the future with more on-line classes making up for the lack of specific local opportunities. But as someone pointed out (a school teacher) there is a huge difference between what you learn in a static environment (IE: books and computer screens) compared to a dynamic environment with living people who can respond to questions and guide through touch and praise in a public forum.
And as I thought about it I thought about some of my most effective learning experiences. They were not merely visual or even auditory experiences. there was touch and smell. the feel of a pencil the scent of the teachers perfume, the sound of a pencil being sharpened. These things all become part of that learning. They enrich the experience and enhance the information being learned. 
   When my dear friend Sue taught me about marbling fabric there was so much more to the experience than learning what to mix and when to do this and that. There was getting splashed by the hose as I rinsed out the tray, the sound of birds and the breeze on the back porch were we worked. The creaky stairs to the basement where the washing machine lurked. Petting cats and fun conversation about her life and mine. All of it made the experience way more than just the information about how to do something. 
The class room experience for students is not even just about socialization, its about cheerful bulletin boards, the smell of red geraniums, the scent of a cup of tea cooling on the teacher's desk, the sound of pencils on paper or even the clicking of 20 computer keyboards. 
   Many times when I am recalling information I learned even very long ago I recall more than just the fact, I recall the setting in which I learned it. The third grade classroom where I learned my times tables is the wrapper that surrounds the act of multiplication for me. 
   How-to videos and distance learning have a place in the education process but there is so much more to school than just the information.

(Thank you Sue, RIP)