> It's far from clear to me that any beyond a small percentage of people generally, but perhaps Americans in particular, have the capacity to become lifelong le

> It's far from clear to me that any beyond a small percentage of people generally, but perhaps Americans in particular, have the capacity to become lifelong learners. This is very much incorrect, although I imagine that there is an abundance of anecdata that supports your hypothesis. First, most people are learning and are developing cognitively for their entire lives. To get some simple data points, ask anyone who has had kids or who has been/stayed married -- these are fairly intensive ongoing learning experiences. But maybe it's different for formal learning... For simple data points on that, I encourage you to volunteer your time at a retirement community to teach basic tech to the residents. Teach them how to use apps like Facebook, FaceTime, Skype, or even Snapchat with their family members (esp. grandkids). They will LOVE it, and they will definitely learn. Of course, some will be more curious than others, and some will learn more quickly than others, but the capacity and motivation is there. I agree with your point that motivation is sometimes an issue, but there are a variety of reasons for that, and some of those reasons don't reside with the potential learner. > I feel that the answer is basically "let's fix our education system," which I -- again, perhaps overly pessimistically -- believe to be politically impossible. This is a really good point, but I think that there is a lot of potential for disruption in the education sector.