- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
- Messages
- 4,106
No I,m not talking about when that Grizzly chewed off my right arm ! (Thats another story ! ) L:O:L
I am talking about education . I was born at the tail end of but not subject to the age where lefties were pummeled , punished and persecuted . Yep , good old Irish Roman Catholic schooling . Let us just say that old machinery belts and straps were put to good use . Just before my time, knuckles were rapped , arms were tied behind backs , derision , suspicion and blame were heaped upon the manually deficient . Yes we lefties led a charmed life .
All I received was a mild suggestion that I learn to use my right hand .
Ha says I .
All my right hand was for was to confound and confuse right handed pugilists while my left hand ended their confusion for the next little while ! L:O:L
That having been said , they couldn,t teach me to write . I held onto that stylus in a death grip that literally broke some pencils . Smudged and torn papers , headaches and frustration on both mine and the teachers part .I was finally left to my own devices which was the best thing that could have been done for someone willing to learn . With the basis painfully learnt I taught myself the finer points . Actually being able to read what I write is another matter . Eventually with patience and understanding I eventually pulled it off . I had learned to teach myself . This was in a time where you were taught, not so much as learned anything . It was when we "learned by rote " If they wanted you to learn multiplication tables you would write them out until you knew them. If you didn,t remember them the first time then the hundred and first time would do . Latin ? As I said I just missed that one and it was lucky for them or I would have snapped . (Or at least snapped thiings off of them ! ) L:O:L
Writing out a dead language "ad nauseum" just wouldn,t have been my cuppa tea .
I personally think this form of education led to slow learners and by extension slow thinkers . If methods were not used or known of to communicate the lesson in a palatable manner then how can it not produce dullards ? If you force education into someones ears by the pounded sand method how can they become or stay open minded ? If you try to induce cerebral memory by enforcing muscle memory then to me you slow down the mind to the speed of the body .
I think I was partially immunised against this by my inability to conform physically . I did partially learn my multiplication tables by "rote" I also taught myself innovative methods to utilise and maximise the potential of their commutative property which was of good use to me in electrical pipe bending . adding 2 5/8ths + 3 5/16ths to figure out the losses gained when curving a straght pipe into a radius may be a breeze to you math gurus . You just try her out when you have a multi horse powered 48 inch radius, diamond encrusted cement saw screaming in your ear like you married an Irish banshee and she is politely enquiring as to why you forgot to come home last night ! L:O:L
I will let this torrent dribble to a close on the suggestive and inquisitive burble of what I would like to know . Does anyone know of methods one can teach oneself on how to learn ? I know thats approaching the oxymoronic . (I used to think oxymorons were people who were reduced to idiocy by a deprivation of oxygen !) (Ah self education !) L:O:L
I do believe method may be in and of itself a hindrance . At this stage of my life I am content to follow methods to achieve goals . I used to think that to shape something that you had to have "a gift" for it . I have since learned that if one follows a method you can turn out a workmanlike job without being particularly gifted .
Are their self teaching methods ?
I once bought a book called "The Art of Readable Writing " I couldn,t read it ! L:O:L It was flipping boring ! L:M:A:O: I think you do get my point here . It has to be a viable method. It is all fine and good as well as apreciated if you tell me of viable methods to learn quantum physics . The only "quadular physics" I need learn in my life is how to make coffee table legs using beer bottles .
(I did achieve this though it made the beer hard to drink without spilling the other three !) L:O:L
If its an innovative method that circumvented some shortcoming of your own ? Throw it in the pot we can all use innovation in our lives .
If it is a method taught in other countries ? All the better as long as it doesn,t lose something in the translation . (In other words if its a method that is based upon a learning system totally foreign in concept it won,t do much good .)
I will throw one out there that is very good though indirect . Learn another language . While not a direct method to learning in itself it is wonderfully broadening . I think that different sentence structures lead to different mindsets . This is very good for problem solving . It allows you to see problems from different perspectives . I had this math teacher who loved to confound the astounded , or was that astound the confounded ?
Students couldn,t see how he arrived with the solution he wanted and what he previously stated would be . I pointed out to these reasonably inteligent kids that it was easy to solve a problem if you started out viewing it from its solution . (in other words its easy to drive the nail home when its you holding the hammer !) It was lost upon them as they could only view the problem from the perspective of having the solution unknown to them .This may be uni-dimensional thinking ? I don,t know .
So hows about it ? Anyone have learning methods or even philosophies that approach problems and tasks from different perspectives ?
I am talking about education . I was born at the tail end of but not subject to the age where lefties were pummeled , punished and persecuted . Yep , good old Irish Roman Catholic schooling . Let us just say that old machinery belts and straps were put to good use . Just before my time, knuckles were rapped , arms were tied behind backs , derision , suspicion and blame were heaped upon the manually deficient . Yes we lefties led a charmed life .
All I received was a mild suggestion that I learn to use my right hand .
Ha says I .
All my right hand was for was to confound and confuse right handed pugilists while my left hand ended their confusion for the next little while ! L:O:L
That having been said , they couldn,t teach me to write . I held onto that stylus in a death grip that literally broke some pencils . Smudged and torn papers , headaches and frustration on both mine and the teachers part .I was finally left to my own devices which was the best thing that could have been done for someone willing to learn . With the basis painfully learnt I taught myself the finer points . Actually being able to read what I write is another matter . Eventually with patience and understanding I eventually pulled it off . I had learned to teach myself . This was in a time where you were taught, not so much as learned anything . It was when we "learned by rote " If they wanted you to learn multiplication tables you would write them out until you knew them. If you didn,t remember them the first time then the hundred and first time would do . Latin ? As I said I just missed that one and it was lucky for them or I would have snapped . (Or at least snapped thiings off of them ! ) L:O:L
Writing out a dead language "ad nauseum" just wouldn,t have been my cuppa tea .
I personally think this form of education led to slow learners and by extension slow thinkers . If methods were not used or known of to communicate the lesson in a palatable manner then how can it not produce dullards ? If you force education into someones ears by the pounded sand method how can they become or stay open minded ? If you try to induce cerebral memory by enforcing muscle memory then to me you slow down the mind to the speed of the body .
I think I was partially immunised against this by my inability to conform physically . I did partially learn my multiplication tables by "rote" I also taught myself innovative methods to utilise and maximise the potential of their commutative property which was of good use to me in electrical pipe bending . adding 2 5/8ths + 3 5/16ths to figure out the losses gained when curving a straght pipe into a radius may be a breeze to you math gurus . You just try her out when you have a multi horse powered 48 inch radius, diamond encrusted cement saw screaming in your ear like you married an Irish banshee and she is politely enquiring as to why you forgot to come home last night ! L:O:L
I will let this torrent dribble to a close on the suggestive and inquisitive burble of what I would like to know . Does anyone know of methods one can teach oneself on how to learn ? I know thats approaching the oxymoronic . (I used to think oxymorons were people who were reduced to idiocy by a deprivation of oxygen !) (Ah self education !) L:O:L
I do believe method may be in and of itself a hindrance . At this stage of my life I am content to follow methods to achieve goals . I used to think that to shape something that you had to have "a gift" for it . I have since learned that if one follows a method you can turn out a workmanlike job without being particularly gifted .
Are their self teaching methods ?
I once bought a book called "The Art of Readable Writing " I couldn,t read it ! L:O:L It was flipping boring ! L:M:A:O: I think you do get my point here . It has to be a viable method. It is all fine and good as well as apreciated if you tell me of viable methods to learn quantum physics . The only "quadular physics" I need learn in my life is how to make coffee table legs using beer bottles .
(I did achieve this though it made the beer hard to drink without spilling the other three !) L:O:L
If its an innovative method that circumvented some shortcoming of your own ? Throw it in the pot we can all use innovation in our lives .
If it is a method taught in other countries ? All the better as long as it doesn,t lose something in the translation . (In other words if its a method that is based upon a learning system totally foreign in concept it won,t do much good .)
I will throw one out there that is very good though indirect . Learn another language . While not a direct method to learning in itself it is wonderfully broadening . I think that different sentence structures lead to different mindsets . This is very good for problem solving . It allows you to see problems from different perspectives . I had this math teacher who loved to confound the astounded , or was that astound the confounded ?
Students couldn,t see how he arrived with the solution he wanted and what he previously stated would be . I pointed out to these reasonably inteligent kids that it was easy to solve a problem if you started out viewing it from its solution . (in other words its easy to drive the nail home when its you holding the hammer !) It was lost upon them as they could only view the problem from the perspective of having the solution unknown to them .This may be uni-dimensional thinking ? I don,t know .
So hows about it ? Anyone have learning methods or even philosophies that approach problems and tasks from different perspectives ?
