Lifelong Learning Is Here to Stay
As many of you know, Socrates has long served as our logo.
Socrates is remembered for his devotion to ethics, human behavior, and the care of the soul. Rather than lecturing, he professed uncertainty and pursued wisdom by questioning the assumptions of others. He taught through inquiry.
That has been my teaching style for more than 40 years. I ask questions rather than simply supplying answers because that approach helps students learn how to think for themselves. One of the most compelling aspects of Socrates’ philosophy is his belief that ignorance lies at the root of wrongdoing. In that sense, harmful actions often begin with a lack of understanding.
He is famously quoted as saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
At Learning Without Scars, our purpose is to help people recognize their personal and professional potential. From that understanding, we create individualized learning paths that enable students to grow, succeed, and fully realize their capabilities.
As many of you understand, this is not easy work. It requires discipline, consistency, and above all, clarity about what we are trying to achieve.
I believe many of us have been taught obedience throughout our lives. It begins with parents trying to protect us and continues in school, where we are taught to read, write, and do arithmetic through prescribed methods. Yet when we compare outcomes internationally, the results are troubling. In the United States, only about 30% of students in grades 4, 8, and 12 perform at grade level in reading and arithmetic, even though we spend more per student than any other country in the world.
So perhaps the real issue is not what we teach, but how we teach.
My thinking leads me to a different model. Imagine every student spending the first day of the school year completing questionnaires and participating in interviews so the school can understand that student’s current skills and knowledge. Suppose we are all 10 years old and entering grade 3. On that first day, we completed a full assessment. If there are 40 students, they could then be placed into classes based on actual readiness, perhaps spanning material from grade 1 to grade 5. In that kind of system, students who need more support would not feel embarrassed, and those who are ahead would not be forced to wait while others catch up.
That is the same principle behind our comprehensive skills and knowledge assessments. We offer 20 assessments across five different departments, including general testing for technicians. While we do not teach repair or maintenance directly, we can accurately evaluate the skills required for those roles.
These assessments cover roughly 95% of the labor hours used in the capital goods industries, including products such as washing machines, lawn mowers, tractors, mining equipment, and many other forms of capital equipment. Traditional schools—whether technical schools, vocational schools, or universities—tend to teach individual subjects such as English literature or history. At Learning Without Scars, by contrast, we teach the operational aspects of the job. In the parts business, for example, we divide work into six distinct roles. We do the same in service, sales and marketing, customer service, and technician development.
Each assessment takes approximately two hours to complete. They consist of multiple-choice questions and, depending on the assessment, may include between 90 and 180 questions. Every assessment produces a score, and from that score we can design an individualized learning path to address gaps in a student’s skills and knowledge.
Each department and job function includes 32 classes organized into four groups of eight: Prerequisite, Basic, Advanced, and Master. These benchmarks are supported by more than 35,000 assessments conducted since 1994, giving them credibility, consistency, and strong industry relevance.
We designed this approach for employees in any company who fit the following categories:
- Employees who interact with customers
- Employees who lead people or manage assets
- Technicians involved in repair, maintenance, or rental operations
I view personal development and lifelong learning very simply: I ask people to invest 90 minutes each week in their personal and professional growth. That adds up to 78 hours a year. Compared with roughly 2,080 working hours annually, it amounts to less than 4% of the time we devote to our jobs. It is a modest investment with the potential for an enormous return.
And yet, even that small commitment can be difficult. I understand that struggle because I face it myself. Balancing work and personal life is never easy, and it becomes even more demanding when family responsibilities are involved. Even so, there is joy in striving for that balance.
With this blog, I hope to encourage you to think more deeply about how you live and how you learn. Our blogs, podcasts, and newsletters are all designed to provoke reflection. We can offer ideas, but we cannot dictate your priorities. Only you can decide what matters most. In my view, lifelong learning should be near the top of that list.
The time to begin is now.