learning and problem solving

today i was having a conversation with some friends about community service and social action. as with most things these days, the approach favored by the group involves an attitude of learning. someone mentioned that a posture of learning has an opposite. this intrigued me because i couldn't readily determine what the opposite of a learning mode would be besides some form of arrogance or conceit. this friend went on to say that the opposite of a 'learning mode' is a 'problem-solution' mode. that is, if there is a problem we present the solution. for instance if the problem is you have a headache, here is some aspirin, that's the solution.

on a surface level this may seem logical, one might ask "if the aspirin alleviates the pain of the headache, have we not solved the problem?" perhaps the answer is yes, we have solved the problem. but what if there is more to this  headache than simply a bit of pain? what if there are deeper roots of this physical discomfort? what if this particular headache is just one in a series of headaches that seem to arise under similar circumstances? if our attitude is not one of learning, will we be considering these questions? might we not simply ignore the larger patterns of circumstances surrounding the headache? when we decide to adopt a learning mode, we consider the context in which the headaches arise and begin to discover the relationships between certain biological responses to physical and emotional stressors. we may notice, for example, that the pain comes after any meal in which we ate peanuts. in this way we discover more about what brings on the headaches and can modify our behavior and choices in order to prevent further discomfort, thus taking out the roots of the problem rather than simply responding once we feel pain.

there seems to be a clear connection between seeking to learn about the processes (physical, spiritual, emotional, social, etc) that affect us, and finding long term and sustainable methods of preventing various problems from arising.

we can apply this analogy to how we attempt to contribute to remedying many of the ills we see plaguing human society from AIDS to poverty to gang violence. many of us are familiar with programs that attempt to address these complex social challenges from the 'problem-solution' school of thought, and often we see that there is little success in really mitigating the severity of the situation. for example, when we hope to put a stop to gang violence we may think that solution is to confiscate weapons and lock up anybody we catch involved in violent activity. in fact, locking up young people in either juvenile detention centers (or prisons for those slightly older) is a very common so-called solution. but we must ask, as the numbers of teens locked away or in correctional camps and programs has increased, have we truly witnessed a significant decline in the amount of gang violence in the neighborhoods these young people are coming from?

returning to our learning mode, we understand that there are many factors that influence how likely someone may be to join a gang. we notice family and social dynamics. we consider the impact of mass media on the psyches of young people, and the tenuous relationship that our brothers and sisters living in these areas have with police. the role of religion, faith, and moral education can shed light on this social phenomenon, and there are surely many other elements that would increase the clarity with which we understand how so many young people come to believe in the power and benefits of gang life. this growing clarity then allows us to craft a much more elegant and comprehensive strategy in working towards long term prevention of gang violence, and keeps us flexible to respond to new realities as social factors shift around us.

these are just a few reflections inspired by that conversation. i'd be interested to hear about how others have approached challenges in their communities and what they have learned. please feel free to comment with your own experiences.