Learn by wandering

An alternative to sitting in a classroom

In Germany, there is a tradition known as Wanderjahr, or "year of wandering."

This tradition dates back to Medieval times and is still practiced to this day.

A few weeks ago I was out for my morning bike ride and experienced a beautiful moment of serendipity. I saw these guys in the photo below and since I’d been researching this topic, I knew exactly what they were up to.

I stopped to talk to them. I wanted to confirm that they were indeed on a Wanderjahr.

As it turns out, the one on the right has been on the road for almost three years!

Since they didn’t have phones with them, they asked me for directions to Plaça Jaume and I did my best to point them in the right direction.

I put myself in their shoes and imagined having no phone, just traveling around Europe with the clothes on my back and a small rucksack.

I wondered what kind of conversations and insights that would lead to.

The Germans are not the only ones who prescribe this type of experiential learning.

People in the UK take a Gap Year.

Australians refer to it as a Walkabout.

For the Amish, it’s Rumspringa, or “running around”.

The Minang people of Indonesia call it Merantau, meaning “leaving home to seek one’s fortune”.

Even hundreds of years ago, the aristocrats of Europe would send their youth on a Grand Tour in order to learn from different cultures and gain real-world experiences.

The big takeaway from all these cultural traditions is to go do the thing.

We spend too much time in school learning and theorizing about it.

In his article School Is Not Enough, Simon Sarris asks:

“Do children today have useful childhoods?”

He continues…

“Instead of making adolescence full of rites of passage where one attempts to master something and accept responsibility, we have made it full of waiting and fake work. After time, all children spot this fakeness, and all honest educators note it, saying that one of the most difficult parts of teaching is having to justify why what the children are learning will be relevant and useful.”

In the past, kids were exposed to the real world at an earlier age:

• Leonardo da Vinci was a studio apprentice to Verrocchio at 14 years old.

• Walt Disney took on a number of jobs, chiefly delivering papers, by 11.

• Andrew Carnegie finished school at 12 and was 13 when he began his second job as a telegraph office boy.

In today’s society, we spend the first two decades of our lives trapped in school instead of getting out there and experiencing things.

We’re shuffled straight from high school into university, then grad school or some other form of higher education, making our way up the academic ladder, moving from milestone to milestone without taking the time to see if that’s really the path we want to follow.

The average age of students entering the workforce has been steadily rising. What’s worse is they leave with so much debt that they need to start their job search immediately without taking time to explore what other options are out there.

Do we honestly think that 18-year-olds have enough real-world experience to be making a $140k decision on what they want to do for the rest of their lives?

A different approach

Our education system is operating from an outdated framework that was developed during the Industrial Revolution.

This approach was effective when we were producing widgets on an assembly line, but in today’s world, it doesn’t make sense. Things are moving at a faster pace and most people no longer stay in the same career for 40 years like they did in the past.

I’m not against higher education, but I like to imagine a world where there is a resurgence in apprenticeships. Students should have the opportunity to explore their interests and hobbies at a deeper level before doubling down on a particular field.

Research shows that students who took a gap year graduated in fewer years on average compared to their peers.

Even Harvard, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, encourages its applicants to consider a gap year prior to enrolling:

“Each year, between 90 and 130 students defer their matriculation to Harvard College, and they report their experiences to be uniformly positive. We encourage students to defer enrollment for one year to travel, pursue a special project or activity, work, or spend time in another meaningful way.”

People think that by taking time off you’re putting your life on hold, but really it could be the exact thing you need to propel you forward in a new direction.

To gain a broader perspective, we want to create time and space for introspection.

It’s how we learn new skills and connect with people outside of our current bubble.

Never too late

This idea of taking a Wanderjahr doesn’t only apply to students. I was 28 when I first embarked on a journey of self-discovery.

Yes, quitting my job was scary, but I knew that worst-case scenario, I could always go back to what I was doing before.

So I weighed my options. I knew that the potential upside was much greater than the potential downside.

I ended up moving to a new country. I learned a new language. I explored different interests like photography and video editing. I met people who were making money online. I started to see all the different opportunities available.

In the end, taking some time off to explore was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Had I not taken that leap of faith, I might still be commuting to a corporate job every day wondering how I could escape. We don’t know what we don’t know and it’s difficult to make an educated decision on our future until we get out there and gain more experience.

If this concept of experiential learning has lived on for hundreds of years in a number of different cultures, there must be some value to it.

So go wander and see where life takes you.

Until next time my friends.

<3 B