Even though you might be joking, I think this is a very relevant point. To take it a step further, one also has to be willing to learn to learn how to learn. I wonder if intrinsic motivation for this can be nurtured, or whether it is up to chance.

I think the learning science itself offers solutions to this. Intrinsic motivation is apart of learning theory, specifically in the affective domain.

In practice, the problem you run into, even with intrinsically motivated learners, is that they will not use the active learning techniques they are studying. Often times they will revert back to rote memorization, highlighting, re-reading, copying notes, cramming, etc rather than use the things they are learning about learning to learn the subject of learning itself.

I think you have to start with:

1) Teaching learning in the first place. No one teaches learning how to learn, so we should just start there. We already have captive audiences in the form of schools, we just put the cart before the horse and teach subjects and hope the skill of learning emerges. This is poor pedagogy.

2) Work with the students and ensure that they are actually using the learning techniques they are being taught on the subject of learning itself. This is the only way I've seen it work.

If you try to learn how to learn using passive learning techniques, you won't learn the subject of learning, which is what I think OP was referring to. People who do not know how to learn use passive learning techniques which results in rapid forgetting. They have to use the active learning techniques they are learning on the subject of learning itself.

There are so many barriers to good learning. I like the saying "Maslow before Bloom", which refers to the two popular taxonomies. It succinctly captures the idea that students need food, shelter, and safety in order to learn effectively.

> How can you learn to learn if you don't know how to learn?

Obviously, first you need to learn how to learn how to learn. I believe that this will be the most important skill in the future. Once you have mastered it, you can easily learn how to learn. And then you are ready to learn.

It's incredible how many people try to learn how to learn these days, without spending some time learning how to learn how to learn first. Our education is failing.