on learning and sorting through ...
Yesterday at a university class a question arose regarding grades and the capacity rather of every student to obtain an A on the course. It got into an interesting discussion ranging from capability to discipline to probabilities; way too many variables for a simple question I thought. It ended up on truth and the capacity to learn for every individual in this world.
My first thought was to clarify if we can all see and hear the same and therefore learn the same things ( I like simplifying things, yes). On one end of the spectrum it appears that not very human being can hear or see the same things; some due to age, circumstances, illness, etc cannot see nor hear nor learn the same things; and at the other end of the spectrum there are those who can hear, see and learn exceptionally well and therefore equally. In the middle, there are also those whom distractions won't allow them to see nor hear nor learn fully, again, circumstances. Can those circumstances be removed so we can all hear, see and learn properly? If it is possible, how do we do it? Can we all get an A? remains the question.
1. I thought on listing the different circumstances that don't allow us to either hear or see or simply learn, then I thought that the list will be immeasurable, way too long for this short essay here. I rather say that there are physical/pathological circumstances and there are mental/psychological ones (again overly simplifying). To even simplify it more clearly: there are some that are in our capacity to change and some others that are not, they are beyond our capability, out of our realm of influence. For the sake of this argument let's leave the exceptional cases of those with physical/pathological learning disabilities on the side and let me focus on that majority of us that are the ones capable of seeing, hearing and learning.
2. Of those fully capable of learning the only thing that stands in our way of learning should be our own decisions to focus and to learn, our own limitations, our own disabilities if one may (the ones within our realm of choice); included also is not caring enough to even have the desire to learn I suppose (a disability in itself.)
3. Apparently there is a pyramid of learning that shows that we learn the most by doing not by reading nor hearing or seeing but by doing, by putting into practice what we learn. This is what led me into step 5.
4. There is the topic of "visibility" I would like to call it; we all have glasses trough which we see the world; they were given to us by either society, our parents, family, church, etc. We all have them and often they get in our way of seeing things for how they really are. Some call it our biases, and yet though they exist let us not forget that truth is independent of our believes, it exist even if no one believes it.
5. The scientific method is ought to be used at every exposure to new light, knowledge, to determine if what we are learning is true or not. Let's remember the method (again, simplified): a. formulate a question; b. Hypothesis; c. Prediction; d. Testing; e. Analysis and e. Do it again and again. I guess the idea of planting a seed and nurturing it till one sees its growth and its fruit is another way to achieve this very same thing, same method just a different way to go about.
6. Now, the procedures used in this method will vary depending on the field of study, obviously we cannot apply chemical procedures to determine electrical theories, nor psychological procedures to understand mathematical theories, that is clear I hope. Often in our desire to learn new concepts, theories, truth, we mix the procedures whether because we don't know any better or because we like or are used to using certain favoured ones, and come to conclusions of truth when in reality they hold no water as the procedure used to validate that theory was the wrong one, therefore making no matter what we plug in in this example, a falsehood in the conclusion. It wasn't that the information was wrong, bad or false or invalid but rather that we used the wrong set of procedures to evaluate it. So let us be extremely cautious of choosing our procedures.
7. If we all agree that there is a source of truth, whether one calls it God, Allah, Nature, The Universe or Buddah, it follows that one must draw close to that source in order to learn truth. It is the most absurd way of thinking that I can find truth far from its source.
A good friend of mine said to me the other day that I am often very convincing, great compliment I thought, though it made me think of the time when Peter the apostle in the Bible stories was taken as a prisoner and had to confront Agripa and Agripa after listening to him for who knows how long, said: "thou almost persuadeth me to be a Christian" But, why didn't he? He was one of the greatest preachers ever in the history of Christianity, if anyone was convincing it was this guy. Can we really convince anyone of anything? I am of the believe that we are exposed to thoughts, believes, etc but no one can convince us but only ourselves. When I talk to anyone, or as I write these ideas that come to my mind I hope I don't convince no one. It is again the theme of personal responsibility all the way, applied even to knowledge; it can be offered, it can be presented to us but it is up to us to take it, to assimilate it, to adopt it as ours, to learn; it is a process and only when and if we follow it we can declare certain idea as "ours" not because we originated them, but rather because we have come to own it through a process of assimilation called learning; otherwise is mere believe, mere trust in others, indoctrination even, not true knowledge. Furthermore to seek for truth is an obligation rather than a mere privilege I think.
One of my favourite university classes was entitled "Why do we believe what we believe" and it truly made every student (many, if not almost all, left the class at some point) truly question why do we think this or that way. Ever since an early youth I have questioned my beliefs, I was told to do so from a very young age; I still do it every so often as I want to say always that my thoughts and ideas are mine, not because I made them nor invented them (I am not that smart to come up with anything original) but rather because I have experimented them and now I own them.
How much do you own of your thoughts? did Mommy and Daddy gave them to you? did the Preacher? or was it the T.V., or magazines? or society and friends? who cares where they came from let's be honest; the challenge is to start sorting through what we have been exposed to and looking for truth.
3. Apparently there is a pyramid of learning that shows that we learn the most by doing not by reading nor hearing or seeing but by doing, by putting into practice what we learn. This is what led me into step 5.
4. There is the topic of "visibility" I would like to call it; we all have glasses trough which we see the world; they were given to us by either society, our parents, family, church, etc. We all have them and often they get in our way of seeing things for how they really are. Some call it our biases, and yet though they exist let us not forget that truth is independent of our believes, it exist even if no one believes it.
5. The scientific method is ought to be used at every exposure to new light, knowledge, to determine if what we are learning is true or not. Let's remember the method (again, simplified): a. formulate a question; b. Hypothesis; c. Prediction; d. Testing; e. Analysis and e. Do it again and again. I guess the idea of planting a seed and nurturing it till one sees its growth and its fruit is another way to achieve this very same thing, same method just a different way to go about.
6. Now, the procedures used in this method will vary depending on the field of study, obviously we cannot apply chemical procedures to determine electrical theories, nor psychological procedures to understand mathematical theories, that is clear I hope. Often in our desire to learn new concepts, theories, truth, we mix the procedures whether because we don't know any better or because we like or are used to using certain favoured ones, and come to conclusions of truth when in reality they hold no water as the procedure used to validate that theory was the wrong one, therefore making no matter what we plug in in this example, a falsehood in the conclusion. It wasn't that the information was wrong, bad or false or invalid but rather that we used the wrong set of procedures to evaluate it. So let us be extremely cautious of choosing our procedures.
7. If we all agree that there is a source of truth, whether one calls it God, Allah, Nature, The Universe or Buddah, it follows that one must draw close to that source in order to learn truth. It is the most absurd way of thinking that I can find truth far from its source.
A good friend of mine said to me the other day that I am often very convincing, great compliment I thought, though it made me think of the time when Peter the apostle in the Bible stories was taken as a prisoner and had to confront Agripa and Agripa after listening to him for who knows how long, said: "thou almost persuadeth me to be a Christian" But, why didn't he? He was one of the greatest preachers ever in the history of Christianity, if anyone was convincing it was this guy. Can we really convince anyone of anything? I am of the believe that we are exposed to thoughts, believes, etc but no one can convince us but only ourselves. When I talk to anyone, or as I write these ideas that come to my mind I hope I don't convince no one. It is again the theme of personal responsibility all the way, applied even to knowledge; it can be offered, it can be presented to us but it is up to us to take it, to assimilate it, to adopt it as ours, to learn; it is a process and only when and if we follow it we can declare certain idea as "ours" not because we originated them, but rather because we have come to own it through a process of assimilation called learning; otherwise is mere believe, mere trust in others, indoctrination even, not true knowledge. Furthermore to seek for truth is an obligation rather than a mere privilege I think.
One of my favourite university classes was entitled "Why do we believe what we believe" and it truly made every student (many, if not almost all, left the class at some point) truly question why do we think this or that way. Ever since an early youth I have questioned my beliefs, I was told to do so from a very young age; I still do it every so often as I want to say always that my thoughts and ideas are mine, not because I made them nor invented them (I am not that smart to come up with anything original) but rather because I have experimented them and now I own them.
How much do you own of your thoughts? did Mommy and Daddy gave them to you? did the Preacher? or was it the T.V., or magazines? or society and friends? who cares where they came from let's be honest; the challenge is to start sorting through what we have been exposed to and looking for truth.
Comments
Post a Comment