One of the biggest problems with learning in the classroom is that the classroom exists as a place unto itself. Most of them are very generic. The best ones are furnished with audio and video gear, have comfortable desks and chairs, and nice, big windows to let in lots of natural light. But they are designed to focus attention on the teacher or whatever else is going on at the front of the room, and I have come to view that as a weakness. There are exceptions to this model; a drama class might be held in a theater. Industrial arts classrooms usually have tools and equipment needed for that kind of hands-on learning.

But the role of “place” in learning strikes me as under-appreciated in other areas. Take poetry. I remember as an undergrad trying to get a handle on Robert Frost’s poem “Two Tramps in Mud Time”, but the poem just didn’t make sense to me. Not that the poem is nonsensical. Far from it. In fact, once I finally grasped what Frost was talking about, I found the poem to be a thought-provoking meditation on the value, the wisdom, and perhaps the larger costs of melding vocation and avocation. Considering that it was published in 1936 when America was still reeling from the Depression, that was a very pertinent thing for a poet to be thinking about.

But that understanding of “Two Tramps…” didn’t crystallize for me until I had lived for about two years in New England, the homeland of Frost’s poetry. One day I pulled my worn copy of Immortal Poems edited by Oscar Williams from the shelf, gave that poem another try, and it made sense. Crystal-clear sense. Frost’s description of the weather, the place where he was chopping wood, the bluebird coming “tenderly up to alight”, all of it produced a sense of recognition. I had been in places such as Frost described. And the rest of the poem—which actually has little to do with the setting—suddenly made sense.

Anyone who has studied abroad or grappled with the task of acclimating oneself to a new environment knows how much it can teach. By contrast, the average classroom is so unlike anything, it can’t leverage the magic of “place”, even with a full multimedia circus. Learning is best accomplished in the right places. Something I will discuss in a later installment.

By the way, I’ve linked the copy of “Two Tramps in Mud Time” from poetryx.com, a wonderful resource for those who enjoy poetry.