Learning as acquisition

As with most things, ideas about learning vary across time and from place to place, and as with everything else, there is an element of fashion about the multiplicity of approaches. For example, the idea that all (and I mean everyone!) would learn continuously 'from the cradle to the grave' would have horrified our grandparents, who were brought up to expect that post-school learning would be confined to the few, and that even those hardy souls would not require any formal input after the age of about 21.