Ginger and I were discussing where we would be going for a walk early one evening. She loves to go around the lake, but I wanted more variety. I told her that we would go up to the badlands at the end of the lake and explore that mountainous region.

Interestingly, Ginger began talking about travel. “You are always praising George Santayana’s comment, ‘Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ I agree; I shouldn’t have started to chew on a bone again after getting it lodged around my lower jaw a couple minutes before.

“However, another issue that you push and use Santayana to reinforce your contention is about education. Santayana said, ‘A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.’”

I agreed with Ginger. She has watched me writing on the importance of travel and use those articles in teaching. I use the metaphor that learning from a textbook is like one-dimensional learning. It is essentially an exact parallel to Santayana’s comment, “A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.”

Ginger’s response was interesting, “When we are walking around the lake, you know the neighborhood quite well. You have lived in that house for a decade and a half. The neighborhood and the people are familiar to you, but they aren’t to me. I’m still learning about where to go potty, where we play ball, and where the dogs and kids live.”

I agreed. However, Ginger wasn’t finished. “You want to go to the badlands at the end of the lake. You understand the subdivision, and you want to learn more. That is why you are pushing exploring a place that we merely pass every day on our walks.”

“Additionally, what is true about our subdivision is true of the larger world. You have traveled to most of all the major destinations in the world. You have gone to school or taught in some of those places. That is why you love going to places overseas that aren’t even close to the major destinations of other Americans. How many Americans have spent time in Mali, Andorra, Nepal, or Burma? Not many.”

I agreed. It isn’t that I am bored with Europe, but the other places, the less traveled ones, draw me more to explore them. I went on about how travel affects my teaching. Many things that I mention in class aren’t mentioned in textbooks. The gap between book learning and learning from traveling is vast.

Thus Ginger Spoke

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09/25/17