Born of frustration with some of my classes this semester, I have a new hunch.

If we think and operate using language as our medium, then when we learn (as in truly internalize) a new idea, it ought to extend our language. Or, put differently, new ideas change how we see the world because they change how we describe/model the world in our heads.

It follows that one way to measure how much I’ve learned from a class is to see how much of the vocabulary and language I’ve adopted from that class.

Does that feel right? When was the last time a new idea changed how you describe the world?

Update: Just realized this is not a new hunch at all. I remember where I got this idea from now - from Dr. Pangaro via “Leadership and Language in Regenerating Organizations”