The Stuff That Really Matters Most For Learning

What really matters most for learning? Challenging reading, massive writing, intense discussion, frequent memorization, high expectations, and scheduled reviews. Seems simple, right? So why not try it?

The Stuff That Really Matters Most: For Learning

What really matters most for learning? If you ask Marva Collins or Rafe Esquith (if you don't recognize these names google them or look on Amazon.com) it comes down to four simple things:

1. Challenging Reading
2. Massive Writing
3. Intense Discussion
4. Frequent Memorization

I find most of those missing now in our current education. My mother had to memorize all the presidents of the United States. Some of us memorized the state capitals of all 50 states. I don't remember my children doing either.

What books have you read since high school? Most people never read another book after high school. My oldest son once commented on the overflowing stack of books at my bedside, "Now I know where I got it from."

What good learning habits have you passed on to your children?

The Stuff That Really Matters Most: Knowledge

Have you ever met a genius? 

You know, that girl who assigned herself homework over the summer break; the kid in high school who read the encyclopedia for fun; that nerd in college who read physics textbooks like they were novels; that business owner who always came up with cool new innovative products.

Let me tell you about a genius. She’s a world-class gymnast. She learned a new language and speaks the local dialect with a perfect accent. She’s an accomplished experimental scientist in both physics and chemistry. She’s a skilled mathematician with great skills in logic. She’s a powerful, influential negotiator, psychologist, and strategist.

Does this sound familiar? That describes each of you. Think about all of the things that you learned as a small child. Did you know who had the biggest bowl of ice cream or the most cookies? Did you experiment with gravity and the chemistry of food from your high chair, much to your parent’s chagrin? Did you know how to influence people to get what you wanted? Did you successfully learn to play games with complex strategies? If you think learning how to walk is easy, just talk with someone who lost that ability and is working on relearning it.

Psychologists tell us that you learned 90% of what you know before the age of six. And then we sent you to school to make sure it never happened again. And most of us never recover from this school induced coma.

We are all born geniuses, we've been de-genius-ized by school and by life. So go out and rediscover your genius today!