life-based learning - should my circus skills course be funded by my employer?

Currently I spend my Tuesdays playing with silks, juggling balls and the trapeze. I am officially the world's worst juggler (I struggle to juggle one ball, let alone three) whereas I am surprisingly relaxed on the trapeze (possibly down to my poorly developed sense of self-preservation). My employer would probably fork out tens of thousands of dollars for an MBA but wouldn't hand over 200 bucks for this course - which I would argue has lots of workplace applications.

Reflecting on life-based learning, I'm not sure if I want my employer to see me as a whole person. I want to stay hidden, thank you very much. At the same time, it would be nice if the various employers I have had would acknowledge that my life outside work has been beneficial to them. The acting course I did a few years back had a major impact on my approach to facilitating & presenting.

There has been a shift to talking about user-centred learning (UCL) and personalised learning environments (PLE). Whilst a welcome shift from just force-feeding people courses, a lot of the discussion around UCL/PLE avoids the thorny topic of control. User-centred is not the same as user-owned.I suspect there is often a co-dependent relationship between employees and their managers within many organisations:
"We don't want to give control over your learning because we don't trust you. In fact we see training as primarily a tool for us to shape your behaviour to our vision."
"I don't want you to give me control over my own learning. Then I wouldn't be able to blame you for my lack of development and growth."

I don't think life-based learning is the answer to personal and organisational development but I am interested in perspectives that broaden the debate.

What do you think?

life-based learning

Very interesting article on life-based learning here from ICVET.