That is an absolutely critical point… and the divide isn’t purely socio-economic. it also includes many people who are in positions that are traditionally seen as professional but will slowly get phased out.

It’s difficult to make people ‘care’ about learning. It is also difficult to explain how community can support people in their learning when people are so tied to objectives and results… ones that are clean and measurable. I’ve often bemoaned the fact that, in general, people remain uncommitted to scenarios where they are not financially invested in an issue.

You might say, actually, that the socio-economic arguments around class and the feeling that a person’s time is equivalent to money come into play here. If you see your time as sectioned off, and you judge importance by things that you are paid for or that YOU pay for… community learning is a tough sell. The jump to understanding that all your time is created equal (from a certain perspective… on i might add that doesn’t include essentials like feeding your family) is required for understanding that your long term interests, financial or otherwise, are fundamentally connected to your ability to learn and learning is becoming more and more about the network (community or otherwise) that you are involved in.