Why am I studying this? First question to ask before starting to study any subject!
The first question one should ask, before starting to learn any subject, is “why am I studying this?” When your pupil starts to study a new subject you should ask the student that question: “Why are you studying this?”. In fact, in life it is good to know why you are doing something. If his answer is “Because I am supposed to”, that is not good enough. You need to know what benefit you will get from studying and knowing this subject. Otherwise the motivation to learn it is not there.
Is Europe doing any better?
While growing up in the 1970’s in the Netherlands, it was a requirement that I study Latin and Greek to get into university. This was in addition to Dutch, English, French and German. These languages took over half of all school time, each week requiring over 20 hours of school time, of which Latin and Greek 6 hours per week each. This was in addition to many hours of homework every week for these two “dead” languages. The question to ask is, why were we required to study these ancient, (dead?) languages. How were we going to use this knowledge in the future?
Useless!
Today I recall only one word in Latin, while recalling none in Greek. It is true that later on the requirement was dropped and the number of the other foreign languages required, got lowered too. But the lesson to be learned is, why are you studying this subject? How will it benefit you in the future?
Next:
Once you have answered the question “Why am I studying this”, the next question is “how will this particular material, or book, help me learn this subject”. You see, once you have the answer, you may still be studying material that does not really benefit your knowledge. For example you could be studying a foreign language and you are required to study a book written by a philosopher from that country. Now that may be of interest to some, but does it enhance your ability to speak this foreign language?
Why am I studying this?
In putting together a curriculum for your students, make sure that the subjects and materials are useful to their future. And that the amount of hours dedicated weekly to each subject is in proportion to its importance. While in high school, Math occupied three hours per week, Physics two hours per week, Biology three hours per week, History two hours per week, religion one hour per week. Chemistry? Music? Art? Gymnastics? I think whoever was in charge of putting together the curriculum had their priorities mixed up.
Check out our next article on the use of gamification in education: Gamification in Homeschooling