Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the merigolds...

How do you learn? Do you read? Do you listen? Do you watch? Do you need to try it?

Once you understand, how do you remember? Do you practice? Do you take notes? Do you just hope?

Some things that I learn, I already just know. In graduate school, all the education courses came easy to me. I would read a chapter and my response was, "Of course". Then I could apply what I read. In EMT class, though, my learning was hindered by fear.

Sitting among people who had only ever graduated from high school, I tried to figure out how an oxygen tank works. I was able to muster courage until the instructor reminded us that O2 tanks become missles when separated from their nozzle-thingys. Of course, doing so, for me, would have involved lifting the can (not an easy task for my weak self) and then dropping it just right so the nozzle thingy hit something hard, just right, and came off. Um, yeah. I quickly found a classmate to pair up with and observed as he effortlessly completed the activity. I won't even go into the lesson that involved pulling the gourney just PART way out of the ambulance, hooking the underneath thingy to the matching thingy on the edge of the rig, and bringing down the wheels so the patient (only imaginary for my first - and only - practice) didn't fall off onto the road.

Ok, so I'm good at some things and have to work harder (or pay someone) to do others. But I'm 41 and in a position to choose what I want to learn and what I can pass on (no pun intended). Not everyone is so lucky. What if the lesson you're not jiving with is the 6th grade curriculum, or at least the method by which it's delivered? What if the school you want to attend is $16,000 a year but the certificate you have when you're finished doesn't qualify you for a job that will pay well enough to cover the debt you incurred? In today's world, children are expected to speak, but what if learning to do so is really hard? What if it can't be done?

The inchworm reminds me that sixteen and sixteen are thirty two, and I can sing the alphabet song (and do) when I'm putting away folders of students whose last names begin with letters L-P. What about the rest? What about all the other things that we need to know that don't come with sing-song directions?

What then?