None of us need to resist learning. Why should we? The tree doesn't resist growing. The tree takes in the elements which make it strong, well-balanced, and a composite of beauty to be admired. It does not say No to the daily activity of taking in newness of life. Neither should we.
But the subtlety entwined around the ancestral tree of human nature is such that frequently both the adult and the youth resist exceedingly the taking in of new attitudes, new ideas. The adult in an office may respond to a new worker's idea for improving methods by saying: "Who does she think she is? Why, I've been here for five years!" The youth may also turn a deaf ear to learning, but with a different twist, saying: "I can't get anything out of math. I don't like the teacher."
Turning the deaf ear, justifying a state of ignorance, preserving the status quo because of some unconscious prejudice against progress, all these are formed of material-mindedness. Each one of these is common to or part of resistance to learning.
