John Hamilton lecture GIVEN BY: LAURIE TAYLOR

Inaugural lecture of the John Hamilton Lifelong Learning Lectures at the University of Liverpool on the 28th June 2010.

5.30pm, Monday 28 June 2010
The Leggate Theatre,
Victoria Gallery & Museum
University of Liverpool
To register for this lecture
please call 0151 794 1494 or
email: hamiltonlectures@liv.ac.uk
www.liv.ac.uk/cll/johnhamiltonlectures

We never stop hearing about the virtues of education.And, of course, it is always assumed that such education involves learning. But could it be that the type of learning which is required by our present educational institutions, our colleges and universities, a learning entirely geared to the acquisition of certificates and degrees, is counter-productive. Instead of enabling us to think more widely and deeply it imprisons us within narrow disciplines and specialisms. But worse than that. The acceptance that formal education is the only way in which learning can be acquired leads to the devaluation of all other types of learning. It leads not to general enlightenment but to a dumbeddown society.