Does your interest in learning cease at a certain age?

[Benzoate]

For instance, when a person graduates from college , do you think they've learned all they need to know and so they just apply the skills they acquired in college to society? Or do you think people just stop feeding there mind after they had kids? Of course, you need to learn parental skills, but learning those kinds of skills are by instincts like naturally learning how to eat without choking on what you are eating or walk.

What I am trying to say is , does your interests for learning about any subject waned once you graduate from college or simply just as you grow older?

 

[Moonbear]

Heck no! You've only learned the tip of the iceberg by the time you graduate college, there's a whole lot more to learn...and a lot of lessons that you can't get in school too.

 

[strongmotive]

No, I don't think so. Life is a continuous learning process, I believe.

 

[Andre]

Agree, some people devellop the urge to learn more and more about what's going on as they get older, realizing that time is too limited to know everything you want to know.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Nah one of me best friends has a PhD and has recently done a course in philosophy. He also reads philosophical and literary classics as if they were going out of fashion. I think some people never lose the will to learn.

Another friend has a PhD also and spends much of his time trying to solve unresolved mathematical problems, the latest was a 3d solution to the Dirac equation, and a solution to the Navier stokes equations given the fields medal prizes remit. He's not even a mathematician poor soul, just a lowly physicist, bless him.

Still as a once opined musician said: there are more questions than answers, and the more you find out the less you know. Not a bad philosophy.

 

[jostpuur]

Yes. Usually the interest to learn vanishes at some point.

In high school, people who are interested in math and physics, are usually interested to learn about big open problems, prime numbers, Navier-Stokes equations, string theory and so on..., but when the amount of labor needed to even understand these problems becomes clearer, the interest starts to vanish.

 

[Evo]

Personally, no. You can never stop learning and I love learning something new.

jostpuur, I think that has more to do with people finding out that they don't have a passion for a certain subject or find that they don't have the ability to grasp things past a certain point. I would hope that they wouldn't lose interest in everything.

 

[rewebster]

hey!---does anyone here want to join up to solve the Clay Mathematics Institute, 'The Millennium Problem' of the Navier-Stokes equation to win the million bucks?

it would give us something to do on the weekends


http://www.claymath.org/millennium/Navier-Stokes_Equations/

you know, we don't have to be an expert to make an original contribution

 

[Astronuc]

For instance, when a person graduates from college , do you think they've learned all they need to know and so they just apply the skills they acquired in college to society? Or do you think people just stop feeding there mind after they had kids? Of course, you need to learn parental skills, but learning those kinds of skills are by instincts like naturally learning how to eat without choking on what you are eating or walk.

What I am trying to say is , does your interests for learning about any subject waned once you graduate from college or simply just as you grow older?

College is just preparation. Post-docs go on to do more research after university.

Personally, I'll never stop learning. I've got more than enough for several lifetimes.

 

[Kurdt]

I want to know everything.

I suppose some people have no interest in learning however.

 

[Poop-Loops]

My interest in learning started near the end of high-school. I'm 21 now, so I have no idea how much longer it will last, but so far so good.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

So far, at 57, I have not lost my interest in learning new things. Interest or no, in my profession (software engineer), you must learn new things all the time. Even in everyday life you are constantly learning new things. Today I learned from my wife that many of her women friends have tattooed eyebrows. She says it's very common among Asian women. I intend to take a closer look next chance I get. What did you learn today?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Yes. Usually the interest to learn vanishes at some point.

In high school, people who are interested in math and physics, are usually interested to learn about big open problems, prime numbers, Navier-Stokes equations, string theory and so on..., but when the amount of labor needed to even understand these problems becomes clearer, the interest starts to vanish.

Lucky my friend didn't think that way.

hey!---does anyone here want to join up to solve the Clay Mathematics Institute, 'The Millennium Problem' of the Navier-Stokes equation to win the million bucks?

it would give us something to do on the weekendshttp://www.claymath.org/millennium/Navier-Stokes_Equations/

you know, we don't have to be an expert to make an original contribution

My friend has already produced a paper on why he thinks its insoluble. Hehe if on the off chance it gets published, my name is on it as a contributer (sadly not for any maths, only for supplying advice on all the formatting for latex + a few other things) so I already have.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

Still as a once opined musician said: there are more questions than answers, and the more you find out the less you know. Not a bad philosophy.

Isnt this the attitude that cause Robert Pirsig to go crazy and drop out? Cool guy though, like his book.

 

[jostpuur]

This is a kind of thing, that everybody will always insist saying that they keep learning through their lives, but I'm skeptical about how serious people are about this really. Learning and not learning is not like 0 and 1. Somebody wants to learn more seriously, and somebody less seriously. IMO usually people put their goals way too low.

I remember being in a taekwondo class, and the master with a black belt asked us "So do we stop learning when we get black belt?", and then answered "Of course no! I keep learning new things every day." However, this same black belt guy also explained, that according to the Newton's laws force = mass * speed (notice the mistake, speed should be replaced with acceleration). It is difficult for me to understand how somebody, who keeps learning new things through his life, would still as an old guy be having such misunderstandings with physics. Seems like the guy stopped learning physics before he left high school!

 

[Zantra]

For instance, when a person graduates from college , do you think they've learned all they need to know and so they just apply the skills they acquired in college to society? Or do you think people just stop feeding there mind after they had kids? Of course, you need to learn parental skills, but learning those kinds of skills are by instincts like naturally learning how to eat without choking on what you are eating or walk.

What I am trying to say is , does your interests for learning about any subject waned once you graduate from college or simply just as you grow older?

Hmm..well do you ever get tired of breathing? Learning isn't a skill that fades over time. It's not something you can finish, and it's not something that ends a certain age. You can of course, choose not to learn, but it's like riding a bike - If you decide you want to pick it up after a long time, you can do it.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Gokul43201]

I want to know everything.

You're in good company.

"A man who knows everything". This, reportedly, was my reply to a school teacher asking me what I'd like to become when I grow up.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1999/thooft-autobio.html

 

[DaveC426913]

I want to know everything.

I suppose some people have no interest in learning however.

While learning as a laudible thing to desire, there are many things in life just as laudible. Sometimes one may have to forego learning new stuff to accomplish certain goals they've set themsleves to.

creating,
producing,
helping,
serving,
etc...

I'm not saying people can't also learn, or that the above don't involve learning, but you can see that there are many things that people could consider more important to do with their lives than acquire new information.

 

[Evo]

While learning as a laudible thing to desire, there are many things in life just as laudible. Sometimes one may have to forego learning new stuff to accomplish certain goals they've set themsleves to.

creating,
producing,
helping,
serving,
etc...

I'm not saying people can't also learn, or that the above don't involve learning, but you can see that there are many things that people could consider more important to do with their lives than acquire new information.

That's hard for me, personally, to understand. My job requires that I constantly learn because things change so quickly, I have to spend at least 6 hours a week in formal training, that's on top of reading journals and keeping on top of things. I would think this is true for most people here.

I would probably go stark raving mad if I wasn't constantly challenged to think of new solutions and learn new things. What kind of job would someone have that would prevent learning? A receptionist has to keep up with things internal to their company, even it it is only to keep up with empolyees and their schedules. A waiter has to keep up with the menu, what's available, and prices. What kind of work would prohibit learning? Certainly a student would be (hopefully) learning something new every day.

 

[DaveC426913]

A waiter has to keep up with the menu, what's available, and prices.

This last example is something that I would not call learning, in the "thirst for knowledge" sense that I think the OP means it.


Think of a modern-day Michelangelo, who has set himself the task of painting a modern-day Sistene chapel. He has the skills required (being highly experienced painting ceilings), but this new task he has set himself requires all his efforts just to complete it in his lifetime.

While he certainly may have a thirst for knowledge, the time it takes to learn may well be in conflict with his goal.

I am not suggesting people won't learn on their job, I am simply suggesting that learning can require compromise, and there are things that one may not wish to compromise.

 

[Shriramc]

For instance, when a person graduates from college , do you think they've learned all they need to know and so they just apply the skills they acquired in college to society? Or do you think people just stop feeding there mind after they had kids? Of course, you need to learn parental skills, but learning those kinds of skills are by instincts like naturally learning how to eat without choking on what you are eating or walk.

What I am trying to say is , does your interests for learning about any subject waned once you graduate from college or simply just as you grow older?

My interest in physics, my favorite subject, has only increased over the years. And I m more desperate than ever to study it - as hobby- no matter what . I am 35 and I graduated long back and I work as a S/W programmer. Although I am doing well and enjoying it,I still repent for not having studied Physics . Well I keep reading a lot on the subject whenever I get time.
So I don't think your interest wanes at any time if you r truly passioante about something.

 

[BryanP]

I find it hard to not question things. I want to know about as many things while I'm living as possible.

 

[bassplayer142]

I think interest in learning is directly related to wisdom and knowledge.

 

[Astronuc]

That's hard for me, personally, to understand. My job requires that I constantly learn because things change so quickly, I have to spend at least 6 hours a week in formal training, that's on top of reading journals and keeping on top of things. I would think this is true for most people here.

I would probably go stark raving mad if I wasn't constantly challenged to think of new solutions and learn new things.

I'm much the same way.

What kind of job would someone have that would prevent learning? A receptionist has to keep up with things internal to their company, even it it is only to keep up with empolyees and their schedules. A waiter has to keep up with the menu, what's available, and prices. What kind of work would prohibit learning? Certainly a student would be (hopefully) learning something new every day.

Perhaps there are people who don't want to be challenged, who want a routine. That would drive me crazy.


My paternal grandfather was a voracious reader, and he had a sharp mind up to 103. He was on top of current events, and he had an interest in the world and what was happening.

I note that people who stop learning, stop exercising their mind deteriorate faster in the end than those who keep mentally active, and similarly those who become much less physically active decline faster than those who do. As an old adage goes - use it, or lose it.


With respect to:

creating,
producing,
helping,
serving, . . .

Doesn't creating imply something new that didn't exist before the creation process, and the others producing, helping, serving, I'm sure someone can find a new or better way of doing those activities.

 

[Alfi]

In high school I was ok with learning, I found out what I liked and disliked.
In college I found out there was more to learn than I possibly could, so I specilized.
Then I worked for thirty years, and learned things not taught in schools. Like raising a wonderful daughter and a couple of wives later education.
Now, at 53, I'm trying to teach myself or reteach myself all the basics again because I think some of my original teachers were wrong ( not their fault) about a few things.

I personally credit a lot of my renewed interest in learning to the internet. and search engines.

I reinvented the hexaflexagon. I discovered my own 3 and 6 sided versions, I spent a long time in the library looking for anything like it and branched off learning about a whole bunch of new stuff. But nothing on the folded hexagon.
Then the internet came out and after years of research, I found out someone , Stone, was the originator in a couple of weeks.
The internet has increased the speed of learning. Mine at any rate. :)

 

[turbo]

I'm 56, and I never want to stop learning new things. In fact, along with a couple of collaborators, I've been studying apparently-interacting galaxies of the M51 type and had to learn lots of new stuff about them, including how to extract information from on-line databases and image sets so we could build our catalog and the associated data tables. Pretty dry work, but the result is a paper that has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. We have another paper in the works, with probably at least one more to come afterward, and these will be more fun since the grind of building the catalog is behind us.

There's a lot more for me to learn, including advance statistical techniques, photometry, and other stuff that might relate to our upcoming projects. Another collaborator has joined our group for this project and he is in his 70's and still eager to learn.

 

[NoTime]

I suspect that answers here are definitely subject to the self selection phenomenon.

 

[BobG]

My interest in learning will cease on June 30.

After that, I plan to take up heavy drinking.

Or maybe sex.

 

[RonL]

My interest in learning will cease on June 30.

After that, I plan to take up heavy drinking.

Or maybe sex.

Why not both ?

 

[maze]

This forum is not a representative sample. In my experience, the vast majority of people are not interested in learning. The transition from being curious and liking learning to actively disliking learning appears to happen around age 10-12. I'm not sure why this is, possibly it has to do with the school system, or possibly it is related to the way the human mind develops.

 

[g33kski11z]

I hope not... I actually find learning more interesting now than when I was younger. During school, you are told what to learn, as an adult, you can choose.

 

[maze]

Yeah, me too. I'm just saying that most people are not like that.

 

[turbo]

A couple of years ago, my 80-year-old father saw me hand-feeding chickadees and nuthatches at my house, and acted more interested in birds than I had seen before, so I gave him one of my field guides. He started watching birds with his cheap binoculars, and called me every time he got stuck on an ID. My brother and I got together and bought him a very high-quality monocular for father's day, and he's still at it. His field guide is loaded with little scraps of paper with dates, etc - he refuses to write in it though I urge him to. And he still calls me when he stuck trying to ID a bird. Some people are eager to learn at any age.