Some Outdated Study Techniques

 The situations described are unsatisfactory for everyone concerned. One further and major reason for poor study results lies in the way we have approached both study techniques and the information we wanted people to study.

We have surrounded the person with a confusing mass of different subjects or 'disciplines', demanding that he learn remember and understand a frightening array of subjects under headings such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Zoology, Botany, Anatomy, Physiology, Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Philosophy, History, Geography, English, Media Studies, Music, Technology and Palaeontology. In each of these subject areas the individual has been and is still presented with series of dates, theories, facts, names, and general ideas.

What this really means is that we have been taking a totally lopsided approach to study and to the way in which a person deals with and relates to the information and knowledge that surrounds him.

As can be seen from the illustration, we are concentrating far too much on information about the 'separate' areas of knowledge. We are also laying too much stress on asking the individual to feed back facts in pre-digested order or in pre-set forms such as standard examination papers or formal essays.

This approach has also been reflected in the standard study techniques recommended in sixth form colleges, universities, institutes of further education and the text and study books that go with it. These techniques have been 'grid' approaches in which it is recommended that a series of steps always be worked through on any book being studied. One common suggestion

is that any reasonably difficult study book should always
be read through three times in order to ensure a complete understanding. This is obviously a very simple example,
but even the many more developed approaches tend to be comparatively rigid and inflexible - simply standard systems to be repeated on each studying occasion.

It is obvious that methods such as these cannot be applied with success to every study book. There is an enormous difference between studying a text on Literary Criticism and studying a text on Higher Mathematics. In order to study properly, a technique is required which does not force the same approach to such different materials.

First, it is necessary to start working from the individual outwards. Rather than bombarding him with books, formulas and examinations we must begin to concentrate on teaching each person how he or she can study most efficiently

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