Christine NorvellGuest
Davies OwensHost
And as you and I were talking about before, you know, one of the great challenges, I think, just of being Americans in general.

We just we tend to want to continue to accumulate new things, whether it's possessions or ideas or tools.

And so I always feel sorry for folks leaving these large summer conferences because they all look like bloodshot eyes.

When I saw that you were delving into this idea of unlearning, I thought, okay, wait, we can actually let go of something or maybe not take on yet more things.

Okay, well, actually, I have to give credit where credit is due, because I did not coin the word.

And I'm pretty sure its popularity, or maybe it's just first appearance in print, came through Mark Twain.

I believe some of these appeared in his letters, excuse me, that were published after his death.

The one if you want a little bit of flavor is that I have never let schooling interfere with my education.

But then a follow up quote was that education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.

And he was definitely skeptical of formal education in general or any formality in most of society.

So I think most of us can hear Twain and a little bit of his sarcasm there.

a little bit of criticism in there, of course, too, when he's speaking about unlearning.

But it reminded me most often of an essay I've taught whenever I've done The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

We often read some of his nonfiction work and his essays that appeared in papers.

And as you and I were talking about before, you know, one of the great challenges, I think, just of being Americans in general.

We just we tend to want to continue to accumulate new things, whether it's possessions or ideas or tools.

And so I always feel sorry for folks leaving these large summer conferences because they all look like bloodshot eyes.

When I saw that you were delving into this idea of unlearning, I thought, okay, wait, we can actually let go of something or maybe not take on yet more things.

Okay, well, actually, I have to give credit where credit is due, because I did not coin the word.

And I'm pretty sure its popularity, or maybe it's just first appearance in print, came through Mark Twain.

I believe some of these appeared in his letters, excuse me, that were published after his death.

The one if you want a little bit of flavor is that I have never let schooling interfere with my education.

But then a follow up quote was that education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.

And he was definitely skeptical of formal education in general or any formality in most of society.

So I think most of us can hear Twain and a little bit of his sarcasm there.

a little bit of criticism in there, of course, too, when he's speaking about unlearning.

But it reminded me most often of an essay I've taught whenever I've done The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

We often read some of his nonfiction work and his essays that appeared in papers.
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