LEARNINGS  AND  INTELLIGENCE
 
 
                                        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.
 
                                        


                                     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
 
                                        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.
 
                                        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.
 
                                        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.
 
                                        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.
 
                                        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
 
                                        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.
 
                                        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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