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LEARNINGS
AND INTELLIGENCE |
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Imagine
about a small child, just back in the house from the kindergarten. Her
mother asks, "today what did you learn
in the kg.?" She replies, "today I learned about mothers, big
mothers, small mothers, good moms, ugly moms and shouting mothers."
So for a child, learning (formal type) starts from kg. or primary school.
But right from infant stage (before schooling), various 'learnings' or
inputs-to-brain take place knowingly or unknowingly while the child suckles,
sleeps hearing a lullaby, bathes and so on. Some scientists say that brain
' wiring' starts at foetus stage itself. |
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See what happens in the cases of animals in forests. They do things naturally
and by instincts. An adult male bird goes on searching for a female to
court and mate. The eggs need a nest for safe-hatching. So they make a
nest during courting and mating. The female bird broods her eggs. When
the baby birds are born, both the father and mother fly out, bring food
and feed their babies. When they grow sufficient feathers, the parents
stimulate (input to the young brains) them for flying. All these things
happen naturally and instinctually. When the young birds grow up and learn
to fly and live on their own, the parental bonds reduce or break. By this
time they are experts in flying, searching for food and water and safeguarding
themselves from predators, storms, rains, fires etc. How much they learned
or input into their brains while growing up is not yet perhaps, quantified
in bytes. Even though the birds do not undergo any formal teaching similar
to a human, they carry out everything needed for a life naturally and
instinctually. (Click here for the page 'Learn
From Nature' ). |
© Dennis Tokarzewski / Dreamstime.com |
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Now
come to a common household scene. A mother asks her small boy to go to
a nearby shop and bring some potatoes. He says, " no mom, I am scared.
I don't know". "Okay today I shall come with you". The
mother replies. "You learn the way. I shall introduce you to the
shop owner. Then your fear is gone for ever. Tomorrow you can go alone".
This scene brings out four factors related to learning in household situations;
(1) ignorance, (2) fear, (3) learning by doing together and (4) contacts
with learned/experienced persons. The boy has fear initially due to his
ignorance of the way to the shop and shop owner. The mother knows that
if she gives him company and introduces her son to the shop owner, he
becomes experienced and overcomes his fear. So learning removes ignorance
and fear and brings in confidence. This is simply quick and easy between
parents and children. |
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Normally
formal learning starts from kgs. or primary schools. Here a child learns
alphabet, words etc.. Later in higher classes, are learned grammar and
writing sentences. Learnings on health, civics, environments etc. are
also imparted. What happens inside the brains of children when they repeatedly
write or pronounce the alphabet? The brain cells or neurons are activated
differently for different symbols and sounds and they make different links
or 'formations' in the brain and ideas are imprinted or 'planted' in the
brain. As the learning progresses in higher classes, the brain-formations
on different themes, ideas, topics, persons, places etc. become more and
more detailed, elaborate and voluminous. With time
and honest effort the student coherently consolidates the various inputs
or 'in-formations' in brain, becoming an intelligent person, say
in biology, history, environment etc. So lots of energy, work, encouragement
etc. are to be put in from different sources, for a student to become
intelligent. |
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Once
a person becomes intelligent about his/her background (home,locality,
society, history, Earth, nature and so on), it is time to specialise in
some subject, say physics, chemistry, environment, history etc., leading
to specialised learning. When specialised learnings are strengthened with
more experiments, project works and professional experiences (at sites),
a specialist or expert is formed. This expert is capable to work in factories,
companies or some establishments. So what happened
at these stages in the brains of the learners? With specialisation
and professional experiences, the 'brain-formations' become more voluminous
and deeper. In-depth understandings consolidate the ordinary or popular
learnings/readings and the person might become aware or interested in
some theoretical or philosophical aspects. At this juncture, some lucky
persons might come up with new ideas or concepts. |
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One
very important point to be noted here is that, up to this level nobody
dealt with anything new, new ideas, principles, theories, models etc.
Teachers were explaining, lecturing or demonstrating basics, fundamentals,
experiments etc. which millions already knew about and worked with. Millions
of students in many nations learn the same basics and do the same experiments
each year in different classes. Hence generating new ideas, theories etc.
is entirely a new regime. This is called research or advanced studies
and is one of the difficult ares of human intellectual activities. But
presently this is also made easy by various establishments of research
in different subjects wherein research students are guided by seniors
in selecting research problems and pursuing advanced studies. Many universities,
colleges and government and private institutes in many nations have research
facilities to generate new ideas, theories etc. for others to learn. So
learning causes further learnings like new branches on a tree.
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In
the above paragraphs, learnings of different types in schools, colleges
and other
institutes were dealt with. In these places of formal learnings,
learners or students need financial support, guidance, regular attendance,
success in tests and examinations and good reports for many years,
to be certified as learned or qualified. Come to other types of
learning, learning by doing together, imitation and by trial and
error. These happen everywhere. Take the case of an illiterate blacksmith
and his son. They live in a small house with his workshop forming
part of the house. The son helps his father in his works and learns
by seeing, helping and working. Occasionally he is advised by his
father in some matters of risk and perfection. After many years
of 'experiencing', the son becomes a blacksmith, but illiterate
compared to a certificate holder from a technical institute. This
can be called familial learning. Here an anecdote published
in Reader's Digest (September 1994) is noteworthy. ...... For a
business class at my university, we had to interview a variety of
local people and write a report. I thought the assignment was a
waste of time until I spoke with a 78 years old farmer. "How
much education do you have?" I asked. "six years of schooling",
he replied, "and 72 years of learning."...... In this
case, the old farmer describes in a few words his learnings and
experiences meaningfully and emphatically. (Read it again and get
its real sense.) This is how farmers and agriculturists flourished
long back in many countries and is the prevailing way in many parts
of the Earth. (Human survival depends perhaps
on the point that, how widespread is this going to be in future
?) This is nonformal learning or living and learning or working
and learning and this happens everywhere in day-to-day life. (Click
here for the page Green
Life.) |

© D4dinesh / Dreamstime.com |
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Somewhere
in another page 'Health
care', it is shown that learning is the primary component in self-disciplining.
Since self-disciplining involves many aspects like values, morals, working
ways, eating ways, resting and sleeping , lots of learning on these aspects
are also needed. Let me write a small example from my own experiences.
About 20 years back, I found that I have about six defective/damaged teeth.
Before this, for many years I was living a 'bohemian' life (or mixed-up
life) without caring properly for food, health, rest, work etc. and thereby
spoiling health, overall and organwise. I repaired all the teeth and started
caring for teeth and gum, foods, working ways, rest etc. This necessitated
lots of readings, self-monitoring and hard thinkings about health care.
For the past more than 20 years I did not have any teeth problem, except
a minor hole which I got filled up. Mental health,
morals, success in professional matters, family life etc. depend on one's
learnings and their proper applications. Many family related things
are learned by 'living and experiencing' together as in the case of the
blacksmith. Maintaining good health and self-discipline take away a significant
amount of one's time and energy. |
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From
the above paragraphs, it becomes clear that without learnings or intelligence,
nothing happens anywhere; might be they are called by different names
in different regimes. Instincts is another name in the case of forest
animals and genes are biochemical units of intelligence in cells. Intelligence
stored in the genes enables a fertilized egg to grow into an infant. The
history of evolution of different animals leading to humans, is a history
of evolution of different genotypes or built-in 'pieces of intelligence'.
The unique and specialised organization (phenotype) of an animal (e.g.,
a dog, a cat) gives rise to specific instincts and responses. The basic
and specialised learnings of a person make a teacher or engineer. It is
shown in the second paragraph, how birds court, mate, brood and feed naturally
and instinctually. Where naturalness, instincts
and holistic intelligence (or knowledge) dominate human activities, developments
are integrative and evolutionary process go on undisturbed. But
whereever partial intelligence/information, confusion, greed etc. prevail,
disintegration and destruction happen. (Click here for 'Green
Life' , 'Green
Values' and 'Limits
of Wealth'. |
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