The Meaning of Learning and Studying
To learn means understanding new things and getting better ways to do things. Learning is not just getting more and more facts. That is not learning. The word “learn” comes from Old English leornian which means “learn” and later “teach”.
When someone has decided that there is something they want to learn, the next step is to study it.
To study means to look at something, to ask about it, and to read about it, so that you learn about it. The word “study” comes from the Latin word studium which means “painstaking application” (done with or employing great care and thoroughness).
Sadly, many, many people believe that they study so that they can pass a test. But that is not what learning is about. That is not why a person studies. A person studies so that they can actually use and put into practice what they have learned.
However, since very few students are ever taught how to actually study, they are not able to learn properly, and the focus becomes only to pass exams. Similarly, many teachers also do not know how to study, and therefore only teach students so that they can pass exams, without regard for the ability of the students to actually use and apply the information in their life for success.
What is Education?
Education is the activity of relaying an idea or an action from one person to another, in such a way as not to stultify* or inhibit the use of that information. Education should permit the person being educated to think and develop with the subject being taught.
The word “educate” stems from the Latin word educere "bring out, lead forth".
“…If we would let the children of Man lead happier lives, then we must teach them in such a way that any normal problem can be readily solved by them. To do this we must have facts. Real facts which will stay with the child. To open the top of a cranium and into it empty forty books, to give the owner a diploma and a title, is not education but butchery.”
- L. Ron Hubbard - American philosopher and educator
* Stultify: cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine.
Unfortunately, the ongoing severe and significant global erosion of true literacy since the late 1800s has turned education upside down, and thrown it into a whirlwind of confusions, upsets and stressful experiences resulting in a steep societal decline across the world.
Students, school leavers and university graduates - including teachers and professors - from all walks of life and all backgrounds, find themselves unable to read with understanding! This is greatly affecting the study of subjects such as science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) because these subjects tend to be a little more technical than other subjects, and if the student is not able to read with understanding, he or she is going to have a real hard time, and even give up studying the subject.
Typical education has now become a system of pounding facts and data into students’ heads and insisting they memorise to pass an examination, even if they don’t understand what they are reading. Passing an examination has become the end-goal, but factually, passing an exam by memorisation does not guarantee that you will be able to successfully apply the information you have learned!
And what’s worse, students are very often made wrong, ridiculed, berated, humiliated or crushed in all manner of ways by their peers, teachers, parents or trainers because they cannot understand what they are reading! They get accused of being silly, or of not listening, of being awkward or being obstinate, or even doing it on purpose! This is not true. This is not education!
STRIVE TO BECOME AN ABLE LEARNER AND TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION!
The following pages explain how the key to becoming an able learner lies in becoming truly literate, and developing with practice the ability to recognise and handle words that you do not understand! It is really easy to do, but it just needs a lot of practice.
Why Grammar?
The Misunderstood Word Defined
The Small Common Words
Reading Fiction and Non-Fiction
What are the 3 R’s?
The Three Barriers to Study
For more historical background information on the decline of Western education, you may be interested in the following articles:
The Decline of Western Education
