LEARNING TO LEARN REFLECTIONS ON ADAPTING TO CHALLENGING TIMES

KEN HUNT ‘09 College

Learning is a funny thing. Real learning, like real love, tends to happen to you precisely when you aren’t expecting it. Like real love, sometimes you don’t notice it at first. Other times you think that you’re learning, or have learned something, only to discover that you were woefully mistaken; again, thinking you’ve fallen in love can be the same. While a good education is vital, the world is no classroom.

We’ve all been subjected to unprecedented strictures and stresses since the beginning of 2020. As time goes by, formal platitudes that were once reassuring, even comforting, such as “in these difficult times…” have lost their lustre. In truth, we were all uncertain and frightened at first, but we’re all human. We adapt. We also learn, which isn’t the same as adapting, but it can feel just as uncomfortable.

As the pandemic unfolded, I learned some things about myself. I learned that I can be stubborn and proud and react badly to change as a result. I learned that I had been avoiding pragmatically addressing the stresses I’d been dealing with since finishing my MA. I didn’t want to admit to myself that I needed a break. I had blinders on: finish the BAs, finish the MA, finish the Ph.D. I ignored my health. I hid insomnia, panic attacks, nervous ticks, and impulses as best I could. It took me a while to realize that everyone else wasn’t living the way I was; that healthy and adjusted people didn’t have to deal with the things I was dealing with. I was able to learn how to learn and to act pragmatically, because of the support given by my family and my friends. I remain grateful to all who have helped me. Thanks to the internet, I’ve connected and reconnected with Rundle classmates, all of whom have gone on to succeed at the natural talents and inclinations that their time at Rundle helped them reveal and hone. I can safely say that my self-awareness would not be as developed as it is had I not attended Rundle. I still think back to what my Rundle teachers said to me. Their words resonate.

After graduating in 2009, I went on to study at the University of Calgary, where I met my partner of 11 years, Nicole. Like real learning, falling in love with her was totally unexpected. Without her patience, compassion, and honesty, it may have taken me a lot longer to learn many vital things about myself. I suspect she would say something similar about being with me, but I can’t speak for her. I spent two years apart from Nicole while I wrote my MA at Concordia University in Montreal. Like my parents who spent time apart during my father’s pursuit of his Ph.D. at Cambridge, Nicole and I endured this time apart. During this period, I finished writing one book of poetry

We’ve all been given a chance, by fate, to reevaluate ourselves, our habits, our behaviour, our rituals, our associations, our friendships, our career goals, what we think we find meaningful.

and I started and finished a second book of poems. I am proud to say that both were published. Then I began writing Ph.D. applications.

My then-recent publications excitement faded in the wake of my obsession with securing a Ph.D. program. I had one offer from a remote university, where I might have studied under a personal inspiration of mine, but the financial support for such a degree was less than minimal. I had a few other tempting offers, but the one I accepted was from Western University, where I’m currently studying. During the pandemic, I wrote two primary field qualifying exams for my Ph.D. Studying for those exams and writing them while the world seemed to be falling apart was nearly enough to break me, along with other Ph.D. students who were in the same storm-tossed boat. One international student, who had to return to Palestine, wrote her exams in the middle of the night due to the time difference.

This pandemic continues to be a time of struggle, and such times of struggle illicit re-evaluation. We’ve all been given a chance, by fate, to reevaluate ourselves, our habits, our behaviour, our rituals, our associations, our friendships, our career goals, what we think we find meaningful. It’s a great opportunity to reset ourselves, and another time like it may not come for a very long while. I want to thank both my Rundle classmates and my teachers for both sympathizing and tolerating my teenage self as I trudged through my adolescent growth. I also want to thank Rundle, both as an institution and as a representation of the kind of quality instructors it employs, for providing me with teachers who cared about me as a parent cares. That kind of care is as valuable as it is rare.