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.
“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
_____________________________________________