LEARNING HOW TO LEARN

AND DISCOVERING HOW MUCH

WE ACTUALLY CAN LEARN

WHEN WE DO IT PROPERLY

Learning is both an ART and a SCIENCE.

An ART because the result of successful study is increasing “understanding” and accomplishment, and because understanding makes life beautiful and worthwhile.

A SCIENCE because there are both scientifically correct and technologically ineffective educational procedures, and whilst the former produce understanding and the ability to apply knowledge, poor teaching and haphazard study methods produce too many dangerous MIS-understandings, the proof of which is the ridiculous problems of the world we live in today.

However, humans are extraordinary beings, and their minds and their capacity to retain and use knowledge are truly fantastic.  The amount and variety of information that can be absorbed by one individual is incalculable and for all we know, unlimited.

In fact it is possible for one individual to not only be a medical doctor fluent in several languages, able to play piano plus other instruments, follow a strong interest in aero-modelling and active sport, hold down a highly responsible job and raise a family whilst, at the same time, nurturing a near professional interest in the history of steam locomotion, painting on canvas and sailing.

And whilst that might be a burden in terms of time and physical effort, it would not be an overwhelm mentally, because there is no limit to the mind's capacity.   It can never be “full up” to the point where it cannot hold any more data.

In the learning processes we are not concerned with the size of the “brain” and its lobes, with nerves, inner-cranial blood-flow, ventricles, organic processes and speculative physical investigations like neurology or psychiatry.  As human beings we are involved with the infinite mental and spiritual universe which subjectively exists for everyone, but which is rather obviously a variable from person to person.

As a result, we have to ask: “how and why are some people quite easily able to accumulate and make use of huge quantities and varieties of knowledge, whilst others find it difficult to recall their five times table or even their own family name ?”

And why others, in spite of years of academic study, are in many cases apparently unable to fully accomplish anything of vital survival value for themselves or for Mankind at large ?

WHY are there such astounding differences from person to person, and WHAT causes them ?

And when they are mature adults, if you carefully study those differences, you find that whilst we all start as tiny babies SOME HAVE FULLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED, AND SOME HAVE NOT.   AND THE FORMER CAN APPLY WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED, AND THE OTHERS ACTUALLY CANNOT.

When looking for “why”, we further find that the group with good “understanding” were studying with the full intention of APPLYING what they were learning, whilst the others were mainly concerned with earning diplomas and becoming professionally “qualified”, and thus socially acceptable and employable.

This doesn't mean that the latter group were born stupid.  It means that modern so-called education, governed by the traditions of academia, have created false goals for learning – a main one being visible certificated proof of having studied, rather than an ability to understand, retain and apply in life what one has learned.

They didn't always study medicine in order to heal – but instead to earn the title “Doctor”, because it's better paid and can be a respected position in the society.

They didn't always study law in order to understand justice and deliver it.  They did so because Dad and the Dean both said it was a good thing to do – again because it's better paid and has the potential to be seen as a respected position in the society.

But, what is it that the really successful and truly respected individuals have, and which the large numbers of mediocre professionals and academics lack ?

SIMPLY THE ABILITY TO LEARN AND TO UNDERSTAND AND TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE WITH CERTAINTY AND RESPONSIBILITY. 

 

And this ability is most simply defined and available as “STUDY TECHOLOGY” - the ART and SCIENCE of learning !

And whilst the first and second years of a baby's life together demonstrate that the newly born generally arrive with fantastic learning ability – learning to listen, observe, speak and understand a language (or even two) and learning to control and make use of a new vehicle called a body - the longer they live, tests over years show beyond doubt that their ability to learn slows down as they are increasingly “educated” in the home, in school, in college and in our universities.

STUDY TECHNOLOGY. That's what both our educational system and our society don't have.   As proof, think back.   Have you ever been offered a course in “Learning How To Learn” or a course in “The Basics of Study Technology ?

Instead, many are subjected to repetitious rote learning of words and sentences which, if they can be recited, lead to an examination pass – but do not often enough develop “understanding” and the ability to apply the knowledge that the system has tried to pump into them, with note-taking, homework, caning, detention, cramming and even A.D.H.D. devastating drug prescriptions from the pharmaceutical and psychiatric fraternity, who are taking advantage of poor educational methodology to invent new and profitable mental disorders, paid for by U.K. taxpayers.

In the Greater London area, over 60 percent of Dads and Mums consider their own reading ability not good enough to read to their own children, who therefore never get bedtime stories and have no high parental reading standard to live up to.

Employers know well that there is a huge hole in our educational system, which is especially obvious when they try to teach youngsters new skills and apprenticeships and discover that not only their basic skills in English and Arithmetic are not up to scratch, but that they just have no idea of how to study, leading to a lack of desire to learn – because they have never been taught HOW to learn in school.

In fact, across the nation, the number of Illiterate school-leavers exceeds those who are able to read, write, add up, multiply and divide, etc.  And whilst some of this is due to the failure of government psychiatrists to handle drink and drug problems amongst our youth, underlying even the addiction problems, is the total lack of Study Technology – not only in schools, but also in Teacher Training Colleges.

Even though the widespread problems in our educational system are obvious to employers and parents, academics continue to persuade politicians that they have ALL the answers and that nothing new or better is available.

As a result we have the ridiculous situation of seeing Study Technology (which was developed in the U.K, and is currently taught in only two British towns) now being widely used in Africa, the Middle and Far East and South America by national and regional educational systems, whose results are now out-stripping our traditional British school system.

Doctors, solicitors and other professionals are coming to Britain, bringing skills founded on the Study Technology developed here in Britain, because, instead of the UK's “know-it-all” attitude to learning technology, third world countries have been open-mindedly desperate for learning success, and have been ready to learn and so fully recognise that Study Technology is the essential foundation for all successful learning and data application – at low cost.

Study Technology is intended for daily usage and for application to the solution of life's every-day problems.  Study Technology closes the gap between “knowing” in order to be clever, applauded, “qualified” or well paid, and “knowing” for the purpose of being able to understand, use and apply to the improvement of life and living.

In fact, Study Technology makes the difference between succeeding and failing, and between achieving and not being able to actually do something.

How can we expect someone to make or do something, if they don't understand how to do it ?   How can we make something work, if from the start we don't ourselves understand how it works ?   Knowing plus understanding and plus ability to apply are the essential goals of learning and study, without which knowledge is of no more use to Man than the words on a page are of value to him if he attempts to study an unknown foreign language in a room without light !

Study Technology allows a great many people to understand the potential of the human mind who, without it, would never know or be able to use that potential.  “But”, you may ask, “what about those who have been able, without the advantage of Study Technology, to be brilliant enough to accomplish valuable deeds ?”   How much more might they have accomplished, and how much quicker would they have succeeded had they also had Study Technology available in their study tool-kit ?

Inversely, how frustrating is someone who “doesn't want to be shown”, and how do you help someone who claims he “knows it all”, when he so obviously does not ?

The economic and ethical worth of an individual is contributed in terms of what he or she creates or produces.  Actual objects and actual accomplishments which can be exchanged for money or other valuables to improve the survival and living quality of others as well as their own.

Sculptors, artists, actors, inventors, mechanics, writers, planners, policemen, pilots, bus drivers, bed makers, car makers, pianists, singers, bakers, grocers, farmers, chefs, journalists and even politicians, etc., etc., via the arts, science, industry, other activities and all walks of life, make their contributions in terms of what they can DO and what they can therefore produce of benefit to the society.

People who really can DO ! And the rewards for those who really can DO are so much greater than those received by those who CANNOT DO.

In countries where Study Technology is available, it is observably the difference between those who CAN and those who CANNOT !

Insofar as happiness is probably best defined as: “the overcoming of not unknown obstacles towards a known goal”, and because “overcoming” and “progress” towards any goal is the DOING of something, THEN: Study Technology – as the only activity which guarantees that an individual CAN KNOW, UNDERSTAND AND ACTUALY USE what he or she is learning, is really the main foundation for the building of HAPPINESS !

 

STUDY TECHNOLOGY was developed in West Sussex, England, by American author, researcher, educator, humanitarian and philosopher: L. Ron Hubbard®, and it allows a person to learn any subject successfully.   Study Technology consists of tools and techniques which study supervisors and teachers can use to improve the learning rates of students.

These same tools and techniques can be used by students themselves to improve their ability to understand and to utilise and apply the materials they read and study, and it remains vital for continued learning as one leaves school and faces the challenges of life.

For educators, Study Technology offers proven teaching strategies and resources that can help resolve classroom issues and improve student achievement.

Study Technology is the breakthrough that undercuts the reasons people are illiterate.  It is not just “another system”.  Study Technology is a workable and vital methodology that makes it possible for a person of any age or background to recognise and handle the barriers to successful study, and thus become effective in life.

(More at: www.appliedscholastics.org/study-tech.html)

 “Study-Tech” is taught at Greenfields Independent School, Priory Road, Forest Row, East Sussex, RH18 5JD, U.K., (where there is no entrance examination) and you may have your initial questions answered and obtain further information by phoning (01342) 811099 any day from 11.00am to 9.00pm.

S.A.F.E.

is the

SOCIETY for an ADDICTION FREE EXISTENCE

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