Volume 6 · The Unfinished Syllabus · Essay 144

Learning Pyramid

There are ideas that shout. Learning Pyramid is not one of them. It waits quietly until the day you need it.

The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.

In every examination hall there are two kinds of silence: the silence of those who prepared, and the silence of those who are preparing excuses. The room can hear the difference.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. And when you forget it — you will — the world will remind you. It is a faithful tutor.