Why Learning is Never Neutral

Listen to the pod on YouTube HERE

Above is the pod. Below is the blog. Same, same, but different. Listen, read, think about it.

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We like to think learning is neutral.

Just information. Just skills. Just a way to help people do their jobs a little better.

But learning doesn't just happen on the chalkboard (do they still use those or are we completely digital now?). It’s more like walking into a room that’s already been set up before you arrived. The furniture is arranged a certain way. The lighting highlights some corners and leaves others in shadow. And whether you feel comfortable there (or quietly out of place) depends a lot on who the room was designed for. Maybe it's all fluffy chairs made from a fabric that makes your skin itch.... or chairs like beds of nails. Or, maybe the fire alarm battery is almost out (beep... beep... beep...) and the light overhead is flickering.

That’s what I mean when I say learning is never neutral.

Learning doesn’t just pass along knowledge. It reflects power, priorities, and values – the good and the bad (often without ever naming them).

Learning Is a Mirror, Not a Megaphone

We tend to treat learning like a megaphone: here’s the message, let’s make sure everyone hears it. If you don't hear it, digest it, and regurgitate it... you fail. In reality, learning works more like a mirror. It shows us what an organization (or the teacher) believes matters, what isn't talked about, and who is expected to adapt.

You can see this in almost any space, because we learn everywhere. School, media, work – all spaces of learning. Look at what gets taught, what gets rushed, and what never quite makes it into the room. If safety training focuses heavily on rules but barely touches workload or staffing, that’s a choice. If leadership development celebrates confidence but rarely talks about impact or accountability, that’s a choice too. Even culture or inclusion training can quietly send a message when it speaks in broad, comfortable language while steering around power or harm.

None of this is accidental. Learning design always reflects what feels safe to name and what doesn’t.

Who Learning Is Really For

Who learning is built for matters just as much as what’s in it. Picture two people sitting in the same training session. One feels at ease. The language makes sense. The examples sound familiar. The expectations are clear. The other spends the whole time translating – decoding acronyms, interpreting tone, trying to figure out the unwritten rules everyone else seems to already know.

They’re in the same room, but they’re not having the same experience.

Learning is often designed around a particular kind of participant: someone comfortable speaking up, fluent in the topic language, and used the process. Everyone else is expected to adjust quietly, often without that effort ever being acknowledged.

When we say learning is neutral, what we usually mean is that it works well for the people it was designed for. Neutral doesn't mean equitable, it means equal. All learners access it but not all learners can utilize it effectively.

The Hidden Rules People Learn Along the Way

Every learning experience teaches two things at once: the official content and the unspoken expectations. People quickly learn which questions are welcome and which ones create discomfort. They learn what can be named and what should stay carefully off to the side.

It’s like being invited to play a game where no one explains the rules and then being judged for getting them wrong.

Over time, people stop needing the rules explained. They feel them. They adjust. That’s how learning can reinforce the status quo without ever saying it’s doing so. This is how we polarize people. You either fit (play) or you don't. The people that don't are ostracized instead of understood and this creates a bigger divide.

“Isn’t This Just Indoctrination?”

This is the point where some people push back and say, “See? This is exactly the problem. Education is just indoctrination now.”

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: all learning shapes how we see the world. There is no version of education (formal or informal) that doesn’t influence beliefs, behavior, or values.

Teaching people to follow rules without questioning them is indoctrination. Teaching people to question systems without examining consequences is also indoctrination. Teaching history from one angle instead of another is indoctrination. Teaching “neutrality” as if it exists is indoctrination too.

The difference isn’t whether learning influences people. It’s whether that influence is acknowledged or hidden.

We don’t escape indoctrination by pretending learning is value-free. We escape it by being honest about the values we’re teaching, the assumptions we’re making, and the power dynamics involved.

The real risk isn’t that learning shapes thinking. The risk is when it does so quietly, without transparency, reflection, or accountability.

When Learning Becomes a Stand-In for Change

This becomes especially clear when learning is used as a substitute for real change. Something isn’t working – trust is low, conflict is high, people are burning out – so the response is more training. Another workshop. Another module. Another reminder to “do better" and "be better."

But learning can’t carry what leadership won’t.

When people are trained to communicate openly but punished for being honest, learning becomes performative. When they’re taught about inclusion but see no change in decisions, learning starts to feel hollow. When they’re encouraged to be resilient in systems that are actively wearing them down, learning becomes exhausting rather than empowering.

At that point, learning isn’t driving change. It’s absorbing the tension.

What Learning Always Teaches – Whether We Mean It or Not

Whether we intend it or not, learning always teaches people what really matters (to the teacher, the organization, or to society). People notice who is required to attend training and who isn’t. They notice who is expected to change and who is allowed to stay the same. They notice whether discomfort is shared or quietly downloaded onto a few.

Those lessons land more deeply than any slide deck ever could.

Designing Learning With Intention

None of this means learning is a bad thing. It means learning is a powerful thing. And power always requires intention.

When learning is designed with care, it can surface blind spots, create shared language, and support real shifts in practice. But that only happens when we stop pretending learning is neutral and start asking harder questions.

• Who benefits most from how this learning is designed?
• Who has to stretch the furthest just to participate?
• What are we asking individuals to carry that the system itself hasn’t addressed?

Curriculum, marketing plans, one-off training modules – those are built off the learning playbook. That playbook is outdated and ineffective. Beyond the playbook, learning isn’t just about skill-building. It’s about who will be listened to, protected, and changed for.

And people always learn that part—whether we plan to teach it or not.