Is your child ‘qualified’ to study?

Although you would not refer to a person as a “driver” just because he can sit in the driver’s seat of a car and put keys in the ignition, it seems the only qualification for the job of “student” is to show up, perhaps with a pencil and paper in hand, and sit in a classroom seat.

We train people in “Driver’s Education” courses to guarantee safety on our roads, yet we supply no “Study Education” to guarantee success in learning, and thus in life.

When children have difficulty in school or bring home poor grades, what do we as parents tell them? We tell them to “study harder!” Or we may say, “You have to apply yourself more.” Not so?

Funny, but when a person learning to drive has trouble, we don’t tell him to “drive harder” or “apply yourself.” We find out what he doesn’t know and help him correct it. After all, lives are at stake. Aren’t lives at stake in our homes and classrooms as well?

Study itself is a subject, but as this is not widely recognised, it is not studied. It is assumed that people are born with the ability to study.

A “student” by definition is “one who studies.” And “study” means “the application of the mind to a subject for the purpose of learning, acquiring knowledge or skill.” So why do so many of our children have such difficulty accomplishing this seemingly easy task? The missing ingredient is simply “learning how to learn!”

We owe our children this, to ensure that they actually learn how to learn!