Learning

Today we had the traditional end-of-the-year baccalaureate at the school. The faculty sat on the platform in our dark robes and colorful hoods coded for the various disciplines each has earned degrees in. The doctorates have the cool get-ups with the triple arm bands on their robes and impressive hoods. Those of us with mere master’s degrees had the more humble hoods, mostly with the generic blue and yellow color scheme. So much study and learning was represented on that platform; a fairly impressive sight for such a small school as ours.

I was reminded of my favorite synopsis of education; it is the process of moving from unknowing ignorance to knowing ignorance. All that regalia represented an awful lot of knowing how much was not known. Our respectful and appreciative soon-to-be graduates sat there eager to grab their diplomas and dash out the doors at the back and into their lives to take on all the things they now know they don’t know yet. Hopefully they learned enough lessons well enough to not be blindsided.

I’m reminded of my private pilot check ride. It was the culmination of months of lessons, study, practice, tests, dreams, and worry. And a good bit of money. I had made one mistake the FAA examiner could have busted me for. But basically I had absorbed the information and demonstrated the skill that the government decreed was necessary to be a pilot. As I taxied the plane back to the ramp, I fretted whether or not I would become a licensed pilot that day. I shut down the engine, wondering if my goal would be accomplished. The examiner started scribbling on some paperwork and said, “Son, I’m going to give you a license to go out and learn to fly.” I was thinking of this day as the end of a process. He made me realize it was the beginning. I guess that’s why we call graduation “commencement.”