Stages of Learning: Cultivating Mastery, from Interest toCreative Freedom

Brian FrankMay 3, 2009

I. Introduction

The Aims of Education,

Alfred North Whitehead argued there's a "rhythm of education." Itstarts with a stage of romance in which the student is excited by novelty, followed by astage of precision in which analysis and formulation occur. The full fruition of educationdoesn't happen until the third and final stage, which Whitehead called generalization: "areturn to romanticism with the added advantage of classified ideas and relevant technique."Most of what we would call education happens in the stage of precision -- but the first stageis actually just as important. Without first going through a stage of romance to get ageneral sense of the subject matter "it is simply a series of meaningless statements aboutbare facts, produced artificially and without any further relevance."Think of learning to play guitar. The stage of romance involves starting to love certainsongs, heroizing the talents of favourite players, rocking a lot of air guitar, etc. The stage of precision involves actually getting an instrument, playing scales, learning theory andtechnique, etc. The stage of generalization involves performing with others, writing yourown songs, etc.Getting a little more complex, Whitehead suggested that these stages continuously reoccur,with cycles-within-cycles (and with life being one "grand cycle" from the romance of childhood, through the precision of later school years, and the generalization of adulthood).So I broke these stages down so that each stage of the cycle is its own cycle, making ninestages altogether. I prefer to use "passion, discipline, and fruition" rather than "romance,precision, and generalization." Here's how it breaks down:1.Interest (germinal passion)2.Engagement (deliberate passion)3.Appreciation (masterful passion)4.Comprehension (willful discipline)5.Articulation (precise discipline)6.Utilization (realized discipline)7.Adventure (willful extension)8.Reorientation (critical assessment)9.Creative freedom (masterful fruition)(I'm going to use learning to play guitar as an example throughout.)When we talk about learning we tend to focus on the middle three stages: comprehension,articulation, and utilization -- aka, rudiments & fundamentals, theory, and practice (usuallyall at once). That kind of education is fine if you're just looking for a mediocre, good-enoughdegree of mastery. People who truly

excel

at something start learning well before theirformal lessons, and continue long afterwards.

II. The Nine Stages

1. Interest

: this is the stage when you start to notice something grabbing your attention.If you're walking along and your eye is caught by a concert poster, or if over the din of aparty you notice a conversation about music and are spontaneously drawn into it, or if youfind yourself remembering guitar parts and humming them throughout the day.

2. Engagement

means deliberately acting on interest. After seeing that concert poster youactually go to the concert, you participate in conversations about music, going out of yourway to be in places (with certain people) where those conversations are most likely tooccur, and listening to songs over-and-over -- trying harder to hear the guitar parts moreexactly.

3. Appreciation

means starting to get a sense of quality. It means developing a "taste,"but more importantly it means knowing who the experts are. At this stage your own judgement isn't very trustworthy, so the focus should be on working out whose knowledgeyou trust. You'll idolize, say, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. You'll read

Guitar World

(orsomething) religiously while exploring the rest of the magazine rack, devouring knowledgeand exploring the field. You might be settling on a teacher, a mentor, bandmates, and acircle of like-minded student-friends.

4. Comprehension

: once you've acquired a sense of what you like and who to trust, youcan start to put it all together (which is what the word comprehension essentially means:"grasping together"). It's important to get a sense of something whole before starting asystematic course of study, otherwise most of what you learn will seem irrelevant and willquickly be lost. You won't know everything, but when something new comes along you'llknow roughly where to put it or where to look for more background.

5. Articulation

: usually the most hated of all stages of learning -- all of the classificationand theory and memorization of rules, etc. That's all that needs to be said about it for now.

6. Utilization

: it's probably impossible to go through any of the first stages without usingor applying knowledge in some way, but at this point it becomes the primary focus. Hardwork has already been invested and is starting to pay off.Congratulations, you're a guitarist! You have a regular gig with a cover band, makingdecent money -- relative to amount of work you (don't) do. You also teach lessons and workpart-time in a guitar shop. All of your income is from music -- most of which you invest ingear to record all the songs you're writing. In the technical sense of the word, you're aprofessional.But you still have

a lot

to learn -- starting by

learning most of what you already know...

7. Adventure

: find challenges -- and not just the technical kind. Sure you can thrash betterthan anyone else you know, but how's your tone? Can you move people emotionally orsimply make them say "wow" for five minutes? Do non-musicians listen to you? Are peoplehumming

your

music throughout the day? Is your original work distinctive and original, or isit derivative and contrived?