On "learning nature"

We crave stories. It is one of the oldest ways we know how to learn.

Wanting to learn, that's a different story...

I think this post says it well:

I'll never forget learning to ride a bike. My older brother's bike, with its long yellow banana seat and black tassels dangling from the handlebars, was way too big for me. I wanted to sail effortlessly down the street like he did, so I hopped on and fell off. I tried again knowing I would fall. I didn't worry much about failure and I didn't worry at all about grades. There was no test, no gold star or even a pat on the back at stake. I just wanted to ride that bike. While the pavement cut my knees, the pedals bit my ankles, and the bike bludgeoned my thighs, nothing could stop me. By the end of that first day I could ride and I have never forgotten how to jump on a bike and take off to this day. Why isn't classroom learning like that?

Didn't we all learn early on: hurry up with your homework so you can do the things that really interest you. This was not entirely our fault. Teachers rarely told us why we would want to know what we were learning or how we could use our new-found knowledge outside the classroom. Year after year we subconsciously learned to separate those things we were interested in and really enjoyed doing from those things that occurred in the classroom. Now, as college students, we obsess with what we need to do to graduate and ignore what it takes to learn. With such habits, how can we expect to function in the workplace or society once we graduate?