I hate wasted potential! So I’m on a mission. I aim to undo the negative effects of the traditional education system. I believe it is holding mankind back. Did you know that it’s very outdated? Recent scientific findings show that much of what we do in schools and in training rooms are counter-effective to learning. For decades it barely improved. Well, it didn’t need to. It was great at producing industrial workers - good at following instructions and doing repetitive work. For the past era, it was perfect. However, the same system is ill-suited for the information age. Unfortunately, the effects of this outdated system is beyond just failing to impart lasting lessons. It also made most of us unskilled at learning. (Education failed to train us how to learn things even if humans are supposed to be good at it.)
Who Is My Target Audience
I’m writing this blog for anyone who wants to improve his ability to learn. The articles here, if applied, should help you learn faster and more effectively. And it doesn’t matter what you’re studying. All of the tips and strategies are leveraging on the brain’s mechanisms. So, the only way for them not to work is if you give up or you’re not human.
It is Never Too Late
Some people think they are too old to learn things. (Humans are wired to enjoy learning but the frustrations from student life made us dislike it.) In a future blog, I’ll share more about man’s amazing capacity to learn regardless of age.
Technology is Making the Industrial Worker Obsolete
So why is learning very important in the Information Age? In the past, people can get away with educating themselves for credentials. So why is that not an option anymore? With today’s technological pace, if you don’t learn, you quickly become obsolete. Everyone who wants to make a living needs to transition from being an industrial worker to becoming a knowledge worker. Factories are being manned by robots. Call centers may soon start employing chatbots. Even software development is needing less and less people as tools promote automation. If you don’t believe this, just look at a new company leveraging on technology to disrupt an industry. Try researching its development team size and compare that to an old large player in that industry.
What Separates Man from Machine
The world is changing rather fast. (Discuss man’s edge over machines - real learning and curiosity leading to discovery.)
Is Intelligence an Inborn Trait
So if learning is necessary in this age, some people will probably think that intelligence is an edge. The problem with this thinking is that people have gotten it into their heads that someone is either born smart or not. (Discuss nature vs nurture with respect to intelligence) In a future entry, I’ll convince you that IQ can improve. In fact, it has for me.
I Was a Slow Learner
We can transform into effective learners. I know because I did. Decades after learning them, I still routinely apply things I picked up at school. This fascinates people which I used to find strange. After all, what did we go to school for if not to learn useful things we can apply? But the more people I meet who are fascinated, the more I realize just how broken the traditional education system is. From an outsiders perspective, I look like an intellectual. But here’s a little secret I’m going to tell for the first time. I was once a very slow student. And I mean I was in the lower average of my early school life. Then slowly but noticeably, I just improved - learning things became faster and easier. For a long time, I have been wondering what brought about that change. Then after coming across some recent neuroscientific findings, I realized that I was just doing most things right. But nobody taught me those things, so it was just out of luck. Okay, almost out of luck because my parents has the hand on creating an environment conducive for learning. In my next blog, I’ll tell the full story of my transition from being a dull student to a fast learner.
A Change in Attitude is Required
Many would probably like to deny that they wasted much of 12 or so years studying. Yet I’m sure that deep down, everyone knows this to be true. After all, how many times have you complained about studying things that you barely use or remember. But this doesn’t have to be the case. We can truly learn what we study. It just requires a few changes in our approach. And no, you don’t have to be a student for the things I share to be useful. In all stages of life, there are things we need to learn. As I’ve already said, man is naturally curious. Also, he is supposed to have a knack for learning. Therefore, as soon as you change your approach, it should be a lot easier. But aside from changing strategies, perhaps there is only one other requirement in becoming an expert learner. You need to understand that learning is a process. There are actual physical changes in the brain when it happens. As such, you need to acknowledge that just because you haven’t grasped a topic yet, it doesn’t mean you can’t. It just means that it is underway.
My Vision
(Compare past scholars and apprentices to university graduates) Just imagine a world that produces great thinkers in hoards - all the world’s governments being lead by the likes of USA’s founding fathers; hundreds of Einsteins looking for cheap clean energy; tens of thousands of brilliant entrepreneurs in every country with its own Silicon Valley. I’d dare say that such a world would have already cured cancer, stamped out poverty, and even colonized Mars.