The pleasure of learning in and of itself was always the privilege of a class in society that did not need to worry about educating itself for the purposes of work.<p>The only thing that is different now is that purchasing an education has become more common, and more of a prerequisite for a job.<p>The idea that you can simply counter it by convincing universities, which exist to profit from this fact, to slow down and give students more time for leisure in learning, is wishful thinking.
I like the idea but I suspect it would require a major cultural shift. The unmitigated adulation of “productivity” and “success“ seems too deeply entrenched in cultures of the industrialized world.
For anyone interested, the article overlaps quite a bit with the ideas of the German philosopher Josef Pieper. His book 'Leisure: The Basis of Culture' is a fairly short read and can really shift your perspective if you're growing tired and bored with the cult of success.<p>I don't know much about this author but it's clear she is well acquainted with Pieper's ideas.
Think about who your heroes are. Scientists, business leaders, artists, writers, philosophers, podcasters, actors, and on and on. You know about and respect people who accomplished great things that affected you and the world in ways you approve of.<p>Not one of them - not a single one - was a lazy do-nothing who watched Netflix (or birds, or whatever) all day and consumed mindlessly.<p>If you want to be a person who doesn’t accomplish anything of note, there is nothing wrong with this. Being a good person who loves their family and friends and helps their community is a wonderful thing and is an achievement in of itself.<p>But if you want to become one of your heroes - someone who accomplishes great things - then you must work very, very hard at your craft. There is no alternative.
I highly recommend Byung-Chul Han's "The Burnout Society", which is mentioned in this article.<p>It provides a very lucid explanation of modern western society's obsession with achievement and self-improvement, and the harm that this can cause.<p>It can be a little dense if you (like me) aren't used to reading philosophy, but it's not too bad.