Confessions Of A Learnaholic

Hi, my name is Leanne and I am a learnaholic.

It’s confession time and this is mine: I am addicted to learning. It has always been this way, from as far back as my memory allows. I can recall fondly a childhood surrounded by books. I have always been inquisitive and ‘why’ a much-favoured question. I have always been driven by a strong desire to explore, understand and know things.

I could not wait to start school. Shortly before my first year of official schooling I became ill with the measles. Highly contagious, it appeared that my dreams of a big first day at school were under threat. As family legend has it, I was desperate and determined that I would be going to school on that first day. And I did.

My love of learning was amplified by the unique features of my early school years. Living in a sparsely populated, semi-rural location in a time when governments provided schools for the benefit of communities without the need to justify their financial viability, we had a high ratio of teachers to students. My first 5 years of schooling could be considered almost individualised tutoring. It’s fair to say I thrived in that environment where we were able to satisfy our individual interests and deeply engage in the learning.

By the time I moved on to larger and more structured schooling environments, the groundwork had…