type
status
date
slug
summary
tags
category
icon
password
原文链接（点击箭头展开可以直接阅读原文，点击卡片跳转原文）
To learn anything, first unlearn school
A friend in China recently asked me how to improve her English. She’d struggled with it for years as a student, labeled herself “bad at languages,” and now wanted to try again for her career. But she couldn’t sustain her efforts.
I asked how she’d been studying. She said she bought grammar books, pronunciation guides, vocabulary lists, and tried to memorize them. Why? “Because I need to start from the basics and learn systematically.”
There it was. Even years after leaving school, she still had the student mindset. The education system had brainwashed her into thinking learning must be systematic, bottom-up, textbook-driven.
I told her: This is no way to learn as an adult.
Instead, find content in English you’re already interested in. Decipher it with dictionaries and AI tools. Learn vocabulary from that content. Define the “job to be done” for English—a tool for communication and understanding—and work backwards. What are you trying to understand? Read that. Make that your textbook.
As adults, we need to do a 180-degree reversal of how we learned as students.
In school, you start with foundations and work upward. You won’t apply what you learn until years later. But the basics are also the most boring. If you try to learn this way as an adult, you’ll quit.
Adults should do the opposite: Start with a real-world problem. Figure out what knowledge you need. Then go backwards to learn it.
AI accelerates this dramatically. It’s a 24/7 world-class tutor that answers any question, as long as you know what to ask.
I experienced this myself when trying to become more technical. A few years ago, I wanted to learn coding, so I watched intro CS lectures. I got bored fast. I couldn’t connect the content to anything I needed in real life.
This year, I started using AI coding tools like Google AI Studio, Replit, and Cursor. I described my product ideas in plain language, and they turned into working products in minutes. Every time an idea became real, I felt elated, empowered.
Before, screens of code gave me headaches. They reminded me of my inadequacy. Now, I saw code as just a tool to achieve my goals. I asked AI to walk me through the codebase structure, the languages and technologies, what each file did, how everything connected. I had it add detailed comments everywhere.
After a few projects, I’d learned more about coding than a year of college CS lectures. It wasn’t “systematic.” But I’m not trying to become an engineer. I’m trying to become technically literate so I can use code as a tool.
Why this reversal?
- Students’ full-time job is learning. Adults have other jobs and responsibilities. After a long day at work, who has the energy for boring lectures?
- Students must learn. The system forces accountability: exams, homework, class attendance. Adults learn purely by choice. Nobody forces you. This means sustainable learning requires intrinsic motivation. If it’s boring, you quit.
- Students have defined goals. Do well on exams. Adults must define their own goals. Otherwise, you lose motivation fast.
The common thread: Sustaining motivation is the key to learning anything as an adult. Because you’re not going to learn overnight.
So if you’re trying to learn something, start with a problem or project. Figure out the job to be done. Work backwards.
Learning becomes fun. Learning becomes sustainable.
Forget “learn first, do later.”
Do first, learn later.
You don’t get good and then produce output. You produce output and then get good.
以下是简体中文翻译版👇
中国的一位朋友最近问我如何提高她的英语水平。她在学生时代苦练英语多年，自称 "语言能力很差"，现在想为了事业再试一次。但她无法坚持努力。
我问她是如何学习的。她说，她买了语法书、发音指南和词汇表，并试着背诵它们。为什么要这样做呢？"因为我需要从基础开始，系统地学习"。
就是这样。即使在离开学校多年后，她仍然有学生思维。教育系统对她进行了洗脑，让她认为学习必须是系统的、自下而上的、以课本为导向的。
我告诉她这不是成人学习的方式。
取而代之的是，找到你已经感兴趣的英语内容。用词典和人工智能工具来解读。从这些内容中学习词汇。定义英语的 "任务"--沟通和理解的工具--然后倒推。你想了解什么？读一读。把它作为你的教科书。
作为成年人，我们需要将学生时代的学习方式来一个 180 度的大逆转。
在学校里，你从基础学起，然后再往上爬。多年以后，你才能学以致用。但基础知识也是最枯燥的。如果你想在成年后以这种方式学习，你就会放弃。
成年人应该反其道而行之：从实际问题入手。找出你需要的知识。然后逆向学习。
人工智能大大加快了这一进程。它是一个全天候的世界级导师，只要你知道该问什么，它就能回答任何问题。
我自己在尝试变得更有技术含量时也经历过这种情况。几年前，我想学习编码，于是观看了 CS 入门讲座。我很快就厌烦了。我无法将这些内容与现实生活中需要的东西联系起来。
今年，我开始使用 Google AI Studio、Replit 和 Cursor 等人工智能编码工具。我用通俗易懂的语言描述我的产品创意，它们在几分钟内就变成了可行的产品。每当一个想法变成现实时，我都会感到欣喜和力量。
以前，代码屏幕让我头疼。它们提醒我自己的不足。现在，我认为代码只是实现目标的工具。我让人工智能带我了解代码库的结构、语言和技术、每个文件的作用以及所有文件之间的联系。我让它在所有地方添加详细的注释。
几个项目之后，我学到的编码知识比大学一年的计算机科学课程还多。这并不 "系统"。但我并不想成为一名工程师。我想成为一名技术人员，这样我就能把代码当作一种工具来使用。
为什么会出现这种逆转？
- 学生的全职工作是学习。成年人还有其他工作和责任。工作了一天，谁还有精力听枯燥的讲座？
- 学生必须学习。制度迫使他们承担责任：考试、家庭作业、上课出勤率。成人学习完全是自愿的。没有人强迫你。这意味着可持续学习需要内在动力。如果学习枯燥乏味，你就会放弃。
- 学生有明确的目标。在考试中取得好成绩。成年人必须确定自己的目标。否则，你会很快失去动力。
共同点持续的动力是成年人学习任何东西的关键。因为你不可能一蹴而就。
所以，如果你想学东西，就从问题或项目开始。弄清楚要做的工作。循序渐进。
学习变得有趣。学习变得可持续。
忘记 "先学后做"。
先做，后学。
不是先做好，然后再产出。而是先有产出，再有收获。
- 作者:tobemaster56
- 链接:https://www.tobemaster56.me/article/2d8232f7-6701-800a-938f-fa0528dfb146
- 声明:本文采用 CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 许可协议，转载请注明出处。
