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Sept. 14, 2005 I read a recent article and it got me thinking. Here is the key paragraph: “What goes on inside the mind of a teenager? My first inclination is to say nothing at all, but that's not true, although it may seem so. Teens, despite what some adults may see, are frighteningly intelligent. By the age of fourteen any young man or woman will most likely be an expert at computer use, keyboarding, and other forms of technology that adults seem to have so much trouble learning. They (we) absorb information--as long as it pertains to them. Algebra, the Battle of Hastings, and the rules for molecular bonding are all forgotten soon after their respecting tests. Teens learn what they need to know for a week, then soon forget it. However, ask any theatre-geek who played the original Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway and they will know that off the top of their head. Ask any jock who the coach of the New England Patriots was ten years ago and they will give you and answer. The same idea does not apply to the quadratic formula, unless you ask a mathematically inclined student.” --Jack Lepiarz Indeed, Jack has hit upon some very important points. To be sure, some teenagers are quite intelligent, and most of them know more about computers than most adults. Unfortunately, knowledge of computers may allow teenagers to view adults as incompetent, but does not equate to having the breadth of knowledge and experience to cope with life. Another point is that people do remember mainly what they are interested in. Unfortunately, a knowledge of rap music or NASCAR driver standings or which movie star has recently divorced whom does not equate to successful performance in the usual job the teenager finds himself in after leaving school. Note the really key lines: “(we) absorb information--as long as it pertains to them. Algebra, the Battle of Hastings, and the rules for molecular bonding are all forgotten soon after their respecting tests. Teens learn what they need to know for a week, then soon forget it.” That’s well worth amplifying. Here is the basic concept Jack seems to be championing. “LET THE INMATES RUN THE ASYLUM.” Think about it. Why should students get to choose what is important to learn? They have no experience in life and work that qualifies them to know what is important to learn. I recall sitting with a group of medical students on our last day in medical school, and the conversation turned to lamenting the number of hours spent studying, by which they meant cramming for tests. Some were claiming hundreds, some thousands of hours. Tom Renshaw and I looked at each other and smiled and said nothing. Finally, however, someone asked us, and we both replied, “Four hours.” “Four hours per day?” they asked. “No, “ we replied, “four hours total for four years.” Tom Renshaw was the son of Samuel T. Renshaw, the famous psychologist who studied memory and intelligence and who, among other things, was famous for the “Renshaw Tachistoscope” which was used to train WW2 pilots in instant aircraft recognition. It wasn’t considered good form to shoot down American planes rather than Japanese and German. Tom had been “renshawed” by his father and had developed a phenomenal ability to retain information. I had, apparently, been a natural and had the same talent. Neither one of us crammed for tests. We went to class, and we retained it. We read a textbook, and we retained it. What was the secret? WE INTENDED TO REMEMBER IT! Intention is everything. If you are a student who intends to remember only long enough to pass the test, you will promptly forget it. Then, when the midterm covers the same material, you have to cram again. Then you forget it. Then when the final exam covers the same material, you have to cram again. Then you forget it. Then, when you have a problem on the job, which requires knowing that material, you have to study it again. It is quite inefficient. Better, much better, to learn it and intend to remember it from the beginning. It is, as Jack said, easier to retain something that one is interested in. So, by golly, get interested in more than the batting average of Barry Bonds and what dose of steroid he used. It appears, from Jack’s paragraph, that teenagers aren’t interested in anything that is going to be of importance later in their lives. They need to wise up. If you only remember what you are interested in as a teenager, you will be at a loss when real life smacks you upside the head. That’s why so many businesses hold remedial English and other courses for employees. It is a sad commentary on the public school system, especially, when students are graduated totally unprepared to hold a job. Nobody on the job, apparently, cares what type of blue jeans Christina Aguillera wears. Back in 1967, sitting in my aid station in Vietnam, Charlie Yowell, one of my medics, said, “I’ve figured out why it is you know so much about everything, Doc.” “Why is that, Charlie?” I asked. “Because, Doc, it’s because you are interested in everything.” And he was right. It does improve one’s memory if one is interested in everything. I had set out when I was in 7th grade to read the Encyclopedia Britannica because I simply wanted to know everything. I t doesn’t work that way, I found out. A good many of the things one learns turn out to be, despite the best knowledge at the time, wrong. An old, grey-haired physician, the final speaker on our first day of medical school, had welcomed us to the freshman class, and his final words were “You have to keep studying. Half the things we are going to teach you are not true. The problem is, right now, we don’t know which half!” Jack also makes the point that teenagers refuse to listen to advice and learn from experience. A wise man once said, “Experience is the best teacher—and a fool will have no other.” Teenagers often forget that they could learn from someone else’s experience. Teenagers, if relying on experience, should stop to consider that as yet they have no great amount of experience. I went rock climbing a couple weeks ago for the first time. Nothing too tough, a 5.4 rock wall. But I did not go out alone and start climbing. I listened to an expert rock climber, who explained hand and foot holds, how to use the grippy rubber shoes, etc. And I did OK, didn’t fall, didn’t kill myself, which I likely would have done if I had set out on my own to get experience. The first experience would likely have been my last. Advice to teenagers: Stop refusing to listen to and consider advice. It may keep you alive long enough to get some experience. And lastly, I’ll give you my Baby Bird Theory of teenagers. When the baby birds in the robins’ nest become too big, too noisy, eat too much, and generally make nuisances of themselves, the mother robin kicks them out. Teenagers also become too big, too noisy, eat too much, and make obnoxious nuisances of themselves. Teenagers are naturally obnoxious. It’s their nature. The teen years are nature’s way of telling parents it’s time to boot them on their way. Unfortunately, in America, too many mothers refuse kick them out. ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: 63-yr-old physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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