Double your power in reading, writing and arithmetic

(Part II - “Your Literacy Determines Your Survival in This “Super-Competitive World”)

Let me offer points of awareness in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, at times referred to as the “three R’s”. This analyzes the gradated difficulties of each skill. Note that many of us are “half-doers,” since we were not given the proper learning techniques early in childhood. Although as an adult, you need not be a genius to follow these learning techniques, discipline and persistent practice are necessary if you wish to double your power. I shall stress the following three objectives – probably the most profitable three major actions you will ever learn in your life. First, how to flash-read the printed page so well, that you will eventually be able to grasp the core ideas from books in less than an hour. A “tape recorder memory” and building a power-packed vocabulary are reinforcers of this skill; Second, how to write simple, clear, compelling English; Third, how to double your problem-solving ability in math, business, and finance.

Flash reading newspapers, magazines, and books

Good Reading is a search for big ideas. You must be trained not merely to read for words, but for central thoughts. You must be taught good reading in an active, aggressive search involving these steps: Locating a main idea in the mass of words that contain it; Separating that idea from its unnecessary details; Boiling that idea down to a few easily remembered words.

Let me concretize the experiences of reading a newspaper, flash-reading magazines, and reading fiction twice as fast. You need two separate skills or patterns of action to get the most from your daily newspaper.

First, how to read your newspaper as a whole; Second, how to read its individual news story that catches your eye. Here’s how we do it step by step: skim the headlines on the front page, or if you read a tabloid, skim the headlines of the first four or five pages. This rapid, over-all view of the headlines enables you “to see the world in one piece.” It also enables you to see, if possible, how each event ties in with all the others.

With magazines, your plan of attack is different. For maximum efficiency, start with the table of contents. Check off the articles that most interest you. Read each article’s title and subtitle, the first paragraph, all subheads, and the last paragraph or two. This should give you the main idea, and enough information to tell you whether you want to read further or not.

If you go further, again ask questions before you read. Remember, magazines present more than mere fact; they also give opinions. Also remember that most magazine articles try to get you to feel, believe, or do something. Try to read at least two magazines with contrasting viewpoints. Compare their interpretations. See what facts one leaves out, and what the other stresses. Form your own judgments.

Reading fiction twice as fast

Do you remember the book reports required of us in high school? The teachers’ techniques in the fifties are essentially the same today. Describe the character, the setting and summarize the story. But real reading of fiction is more exciting. Remember, all fiction is about people. Your first job is to get acquainted with people in your book. Write the characters’ names and descriptions. Jot down the characters’ traits and desires that will determine their actions throughout the book. Read the first chapter carefully. They set the stage – forecast the outcome. Then read faster as the characters become more familiar and action more predictable. Try to outguess the author. Can you predict the end? If you can, you’ll not only get a tremendous high out of it, but you’ll learn how to see into people – predict what they’ll do under stress. That is the benefit you’re seeking from great fiction.

Writing letters to a friend, prospective employer, mayor and editor

All through life we shall communicate things which concern our personal grooming and health, house keeping matters, and human relationships. Half the time, these ideas are communicated to our children, househelp, or other adults through written messages – usually instructions or explanations. Thus one can conclude that writing is essentially speech reduced to a printed message. The gradated difficulties of Writing is similar to Reading: from single words to sentences, from single paragraphs to an essay of several paragraphs. This is very much related to one’s ability to write letters to a friend, relative, a prospective employer, a shop-by-mail firm or a repair shop. When letter-writing to one’s local mayor, congressman or editor becomes a common practice, it reflects a dynamic citizenship capable of getting things done.

Math deficiency produces business and financial failures

Unfortunately, most adults are simply awed by Mathematics. And yet, its deficiency produces more business and financial failures than any other. People have unpleasant memories of math from their classroom days. They believe it consists of nothing more than brain twisting problems, with no relation to daily life. It is mainly for the super-eggheads, they say.

But, the basic principles of all mathematics, from arithmetic to calculus, are as simple as ABC, and as practical as following the numbered instructions of a model toy airplane. Mathematics is the art of solving problems, STEP BY STEP. Even the most complicated problems can be broken down from one step to another. Learn this secret, and you will like Mathematics. However, since it is a precise and exact subject, one must first prevent careless mistakes. Almost everyone is guilty of three basic math errors: not writing the numbers clearly (especially 7 and 1,6 and 0, 8 and 9), erratic placement of three to four digit numbers in a column, and careless copying of numerical or word problems.

No matter how bright you are, there are certain fundamentals that must be memorized. Numeration comes first, then decimal system of organizing whole numbers (not fractioned numbers). Without the concept of units, tens, hundreds and thousands, it will be impossible to calculate or perform the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Fraction, geometry, algebra

Calculation also requires mastery of memorization tables for all four operations. Traditional learning emphasizes only addition and multiplication. Actually, subtraction tables can easily be drawn from addition tables, while division tables can relate to multiplication tables as well.

Math, the most abstract of academic subjects, uses graphic symbols. Numeration for instance goes beyond counting 1 to 10 with stones, sticks or fingers. The neat frame of nine unit golden beads, laid out on a flannel rug with nine golden bead bars, nine golden bead squares of 100, and finally a golden bead cube of 1000 from right to left dramatizes the beauty of the metric system. The 30 British Commonwealth countries once had difficulty understanding this as they shifted from British system to this basic numeration system based on 10. (Come and visit our 5 O.B. Montessori schools and observe these Math materials in the preschool).

Word problems

why are word problems so hard for most people? As early as Grade I to III, children may calculate a problem like this: “There are three hens which laid five eggs each. All the eggs except four were hatched into chicks. How many eggs are laid? How many chicks lived? By contrast, an adult problem looks like this: If your company makes a profit of P500 on each ton of paper that it sells, how much profit does it make on an order of 46,000 pounds of paper?

Word problems are hard, first, because they involve several steps. Second, because they demand reading skills as well as figuring skill. Third, these parts of the problem are often not presented in the order that must be followed to solve them. Fourth, often, there is a “hidden problem” that makes up one of the parts, which is never even stated at all. An example of this is in the second problem where one must reduce one ton to 2,000 pounds.

Finally, since all these sub-problems are stated in words, there are no plus or minus signs to tell you what operations to perform. While number problems provide the correct operations by signs, here you must furnish the signs yourself.

You can turn study into thrilling hours of achievement

Your zest for life is equivalent to your enthusiasm for learning. If we destroy present study habits that make learning unpleasant and burdensome, and replace them with new, simpler, and easier habits, then we can turn study into a thrilling, soaring hour of achievement every time you open a book.

As we master these new study habits, your ability to learn and perform will zoom, revealing such a change that your boss or friends may actually ask you what happened. There will be no more forcing yourself to learn. Learning will suddenly become a privilege rather than a punishment, because its new lesson will give you a new taste of success, a new thrill of understanding, and a stronger realization that you can conquer knowledge and make it your own, day after day.

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Erratum of Sept. 19, 2013 column “Reliving Our Illustrious Past Among Ancestral Houses”: These will rouse (not spare) the pride of our young generation.