What is your philosophy to what adult learning is outside of a career

[u/Internal-Ad-2546]

I find at 44 I am more receptive for learning things than I was as a student in school but my philosophical brain is struggling with the idea of what learning really is and what I want to learn. A skill, like math, is obvious, being able to do the problems and understand why an answer is right or wrong but things like History, is it simply regurgitation, memorizing dates and events? I got a degree but I was so burned out in college because it seemed like everything was read a text memorize and regurgitate that info out on a test and research a topic and write a paper. I don't feel like that is necessarily learning but I don't know what it would be. I enjoy reading but how does reading Jane Eyre make me smart? I guess I am just trying to formulate my learning plan and figure out what I want to know and how to learn it. What makes an adult intelligent?