Dave Pires

Summer is enjoyable because the all-consuming homework golem is finally gone, and while I spend as much time at work as I did at school, I’m left with the free time to finally learn and do what I want. My original project for this summer was learning how to construct websites, mainly through building myself one to serve as a base for my projects and portfolio. It seemed like a useful skill to acquire, and it jived with my recent attempts to increase production by keeping my goals manageable.

That plan got its wig pushed back very recently when I decided to produce another ski magazine. I made the decision unexpectedly, and since then I’ve been tightly focused on the project (which is the reason for the slower posting here lately). Putting the magazine together will absorb a lot of my time and energy over the next few months, and while I won’t stop this project, I’ll repeatedly fall short of my current goal of composing a post every day because my writing will be focused on other arenas.

All of this got me thinking about learning and free time, and I thought it was interesting that the best teachers I’ve ever had never felt the need to assign massive amounts of homework. It seems like the incompetent (or uncaring) ones shore up their ego’s perception of a job well done by reducing their students to hapless explorers in a quicksand of redundancy, while the good teachers are content with self-confidence in their skills.

I went back to school to acquire tools that would enable me to make my inner visions reality, and I haven’t learned as much as I had hoped in this specific area of interest. This is unsurprising because I’ve always been at odds with the education system, and consequently, always placed emphasis on a healthy school/life balance (extra emphasis on life, if you know what I mean). The new magazine will definitely be a great process of further learning and a good gauge of what I have learned in the past three years, as well as how and under what circumstances I learn best.

I’ve always found a school/life balance to be healthy because life simply is learning, and I think that everyone should explore how they learn best to make their lives easier and more rewarding (I learn best by doing. It’s just how I am). Although, I would never advocate narrowing your focus because you’ve discovered how you learn best. I think there’s real beauty in exploring and appreciating the different ways people learn and express themselves. Any outlet you have is a stream, and while some flow more profusely than others, they all come together to contribute different things to your river before it flows out into the ocean.