James Fox

Key to Learning

People watching game shows on television usually think the contestants are rehearsed or are given the answers in advance, and that the shows are possibly fixed because normal human beings couldn't possibly have all that information stored in their heads. I hate to bring the bad news, but the truth is that those contestants are normal humans just like you or me.

The difference is that at an early age they were either taught by a conscientious parent or a dedicated teacher the secret to learning. They were taught to read and focus on what they were reading to the extent that being brought back out of existence in the world of words was almost physically painful. The more intensely focused they became, the more unable they were to detect the existence of sound, physical being or time.

Only when the reader's awareness exists in the story or report, does the conscious mind and the sub-conscious make that memory connection that makes learning automatic and effortless.

Conscious memorization is almost always temporary. Cram for a test, retain the subject matter until graduation and soon forget it all in the struggle for maturity. Unfortunately, that information will determine how hard that struggle becomes in this competitive world we live in.

Even in the more basic trades, writing a coherent letter, application or resume is important. In the fields of machine shop, sheet-metal layout and fabrication, plumbing, construction and a slew of others the worker need more than basic arithmetic.

Once on the job, they can't be asking for assistance because they forgot the information given in high school...how sad!

I was extremely lucky as a child. I had doting parents who spent hours teaching me to read and do calculations before I entered kindergarten. Once in school, I found dedicated teachers who would not accept less than total effort. I still remember their names after almost 70 years. When I was unruly, I was banished to the school library. By the eighth grade, I had read almost every book in that library and graduated to the Grand Rapids Public Library where I could even read Playboy!

Adventure stories were popular and many came in series. The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, Doc. Savage, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs were my favorites, and to this day I still can visualize the characters and know them by name. I never tried to memorize anything. My learning came from my contact with every word in every sentence being indelibly seared into my memory because my focus created experience not observation.

This ability has served me well, never having to worry about employment because I could become proficient at any trade that was in demand at the moment. All it took was two to three months of intensive study and by-gollies I are one.

My only hope for our current students is that the teaching profession doesn't become so obsessed with teaching test memorization, that they neglect teaching them the curriculum and how to go about retaining what they do learn.