Knowing how to learn is one of the skills in life that doesn’t necessarily come easily. I recall when at school, I would respond best to the teacher out front who was amusing, spoke nicely and understood my dry sense of humour. These things mattered for my self confidence. Others in my cohort were perfectly happy just copying everything down from the board and not questionning anything teacher said or did. Whether their learning came more easily is hard to say, but I needed more than dreary lessons.
I came alive when commercial subjects were available – I had to give up science to do typing and shorthand, but my parents figured these would stand any student in good stead throughout a lifetime of work, whereas sciences had a fairly limited appeal for normal life. The ability to type brought great advances to me, it taught me how to appreciate all future training courses, online particularly.