I am poor at Math. Not that I did not like that subject, but its just that there were other factors that did not make me incline toward Math. But hey, this post is not about Math per se or about my interests in academics. This is a post about some thoughts which I think could have been the reason why we do not excel at some subjects.
To start off, I agree that there are a lot of things that contribute toward excellence in a particular subject. First and foremost being the interest in that subject itself; and not to forget the passion we show toward learning that subject. But could there be other reasons which would prevent us from excelling at a subject? What if we do have the interest but still do not get to pursue it more rigorously? Pondering on this thought led me into a different direction and gave me a whole new perspective into our learning process itself.
Let me start in the reverse chronological order. As we grow up and pursue our higher studies (e.g. Masters and PhD), we narrow our focus to a few subjects, mostly one. Now there's a slight clarification that I consider important to make - 'subject' here means a whole different area of learning such as Computer Science, Biology, Psychology, etc. and not the sub divisions within them viz. Databases, Operating Systems, Cognitive Psychology, etc. So, as we study these subjects in more detail, what we are actually doing is dedicating our time almost entirely on that one subject. This in turn leads to mastery in that subject eventually. This can be refined to the sub divisions of a subject too. This is not a theory I made up myself, you can find it by going through the lives of great achievers.
Now lets get a bit younger, shall we? Back to our pre-university or +2 classes. What was the number of different 'subject's we studied then? 5? 6? How hard was it for you to juggle among those subjects? Definitely not an easy task, right? Its justified to say that not all of us can excel at all the subjects given all this juggling to be done. I'm not making an excuse here for not becoming good at any particular subject, but its just the fact that we need to give a thought about. I would not bother going to much younger classes where we had almost like 6-7 subjects - all demanding equal attention.
No, I am not pointing to any glitches/faults in our education system. Our education system is a very good one, and I believe there are reasons why we had so many subjects. One might say that it was to give an idea into different avenues which we could explore later on in your life. But my point is, why don't we focus early on in our education more or rather entirely on one particular subject like we do later? Of course this might not be a good idea at all, let alone a perfect one. I am not even proposing this should be put into action. Imagine the prospects of this thought taking shape - we can learn all we want about a subject to our heart's content. But what if you get bored of it? you might ask. Well, that's what hobbies are for :)
What do you say? One subject at a time.
To start off, I agree that there are a lot of things that contribute toward excellence in a particular subject. First and foremost being the interest in that subject itself; and not to forget the passion we show toward learning that subject. But could there be other reasons which would prevent us from excelling at a subject? What if we do have the interest but still do not get to pursue it more rigorously? Pondering on this thought led me into a different direction and gave me a whole new perspective into our learning process itself.
Let me start in the reverse chronological order. As we grow up and pursue our higher studies (e.g. Masters and PhD), we narrow our focus to a few subjects, mostly one. Now there's a slight clarification that I consider important to make - 'subject' here means a whole different area of learning such as Computer Science, Biology, Psychology, etc. and not the sub divisions within them viz. Databases, Operating Systems, Cognitive Psychology, etc. So, as we study these subjects in more detail, what we are actually doing is dedicating our time almost entirely on that one subject. This in turn leads to mastery in that subject eventually. This can be refined to the sub divisions of a subject too. This is not a theory I made up myself, you can find it by going through the lives of great achievers.
Now lets get a bit younger, shall we? Back to our pre-university or +2 classes. What was the number of different 'subject's we studied then? 5? 6? How hard was it for you to juggle among those subjects? Definitely not an easy task, right? Its justified to say that not all of us can excel at all the subjects given all this juggling to be done. I'm not making an excuse here for not becoming good at any particular subject, but its just the fact that we need to give a thought about. I would not bother going to much younger classes where we had almost like 6-7 subjects - all demanding equal attention.
No, I am not pointing to any glitches/faults in our education system. Our education system is a very good one, and I believe there are reasons why we had so many subjects. One might say that it was to give an idea into different avenues which we could explore later on in your life. But my point is, why don't we focus early on in our education more or rather entirely on one particular subject like we do later? Of course this might not be a good idea at all, let alone a perfect one. I am not even proposing this should be put into action. Imagine the prospects of this thought taking shape - we can learn all we want about a subject to our heart's content. But what if you get bored of it? you might ask. Well, that's what hobbies are for :)
What do you say? One subject at a time.
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