Learn to Unlearn

For so long, society taught us to learn for good reason – learning is what drives us forward and is what has birthed uncountable inventions and successes throughout time and space but, let’s not forget that this very same phenomenon is also what brought forth wars, massacres, and regressive regimes. Why is this so?

The importance of learning has been taught to us since young, as such this act is just natural to us now. However, there is one other thing that must be taught but isn’t: the arduous process of unlearning. This underemphasized concept of unlearning is the throwing away of something learned that is rendered obsolete, defective, toxic, or erroneous. The process of learning is not linear nor steady; it is ever fluctuating and within that process you are bound to fall into the potholes of prejudice, false news, hearsay, propaganda, outdated data, incorrect thought, and more. Sometimes we learn about these things that mustn’t be learned and swallowed into our being. Unlearning is the process that gets you through these problematic struggles.

It can be tricky identifying what to unlearn and what information to retain. Typically, this can be identified through a sense of awareness and an open mind. Question everything even if you know about something so well they start looking like the back of your hand. More than that, communicate with others who share a different opinion or thought on a particular matter, and listen to what they have to say without you being clouded of bias or pride. And of course, continue learning amidst the process of unlearning. If it takes two to tango, it also takes learning and unlearning to be able to grow.

To minimize confusion and stray away from the abstractness of it all, a concrete example of the pitfalls of learning is our own former president Ferdinand Marcos who graduated as cum laude in the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law but ended up subjecting the country under the oppressive and tyrannical Martial Law. A well-learned man became one of our country’s greatest threat. And it’s not just him, look into history and you will find that some of the most gruesome events in mankind were made because of the motions and decisions of supposedly educated men.

See, learning does not always lead to fruitions and victories. Learning can also lead you to inhibit yourself and this is what our society fails to educate us about. Learning is important, yes, but so is unlearning. The more you know, the more you also have to un-know. All the toxic and erroneous constructs, structures, concepts, and systems we are taught, we have to unlearn them – even if we are not necessarily aware of the incorrectness of these teachings.

In the end, learning is only half of the process.