'The principles of interest and practice'
Dear friends,
Well, there is something we need to take more seriously and here it is:
Very recently, a kind of remembrance was done in honour of the late Dagrin; I also can’t believe it’s been 7years, really? Different media outlets jammed his ‘evergreen’ music; even these noisemakers who blast music on the street at deafening volume in the name of selling records were not left out. It, however, came to me as a surprise that I could remember some lines of the music played vividly. There and then, I began to brood how I could remember a song I heard many years ago so well but faintly remember (that’s if I can remember at all) some aspects of the books I read 3-4years ago.
It is a common reality that the contents of songs we listen to (and the movies we watch) stay with us for a long time; hence, it is possible to recall and reproduce them whenever necessary. Different studies (Stephen McAdams, 1987, The UC Davis study, 2009 among others) have shown how music is processed in the human mind. It was noticed that the immense amount of structure of any musical production enhances its reproduction at will or when triggered by a stimulus.
MY QUESTION NOW IS: WHY IS DIFFICULT TO RECALL AND REPRODUCE INFORMATION IN BOOKS READ AS WITH MUSIC?
There are two things that necessitate this: interest and practice. The interest (a subconscious action) attracts us to the music while a constant practice (conscious action) encourages it to be stuck in the memory for future use. This, I think, can be directly transferred to our educational life. There is a place of interest formation if we are to get attracted to reading; it proceeds from a subconscious state of mind to its eventual actualization. What has been read can then be sustained through a persistent practice when such is perceived in relatable terms. For instance, I tell my people that studying the English language has passed the stage of just learning parts of speech, concord, composition among other linguistic aspects; these are easily forgotten after a while. There is now the need for a sustained practice of what has been learned so as to make them entrenched in the memory and ready for use at any time. Like the English language, other subjects and courses need a similar approach in order to enhance our educational and social success. This is because practice helps to force what you want to know on the brain in a conditioned state.
I conclude by proposing the PRINCIPLES OF INTEREST AND PRACTICE as a catalyst for sustained retention and reproduction of information.
SAY NO TO “LA’ CRAM; LA’ POUR”
Develop your interest in reading; practice what’s been read in socially relatable terms and you will see that GOOD IS THE LORD WHO HAS ENDOWED US WITH THIS LEARNING CAPACITY.
Olalekan 'Tunde ADEPOJU
Doctoral Student
University of Ibadan
© Adepoju Olalekan
2017