Facts are just facts….
So…what’s the point? Why would anyone write a book about telling someone else about ways to study? Rowntree noted that he didn’t write the book to tell anyone how to study, but instead to introduce various ways of learning. Yup, that makes it clear as mud! Sometimes, books really hold little meaning, as noted in the following humorous interaction:
Teacher to student: “Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. What did you learn from that?”
Student to teacher: “I learned that if he had been sitting in class looking at books like us, he wouldn’t have discovered anything!”
So basically, learning is about application, right? So, then it’s true that learning to study is about experiencing as well. Rowntree noted that ‘the idea of learning involves the capacity to relate new ideas to existing ideas and apply them in new ways.’[1] This allows the opportunity to pursue the implication of the new ideas and see how they connect with other ideas of interest.
When I first began working with human trafficking victims nearly ten years ago (long before ‘human trafficking’ became a buzz word), I had an agenda in place of how to help these broken individuals. I knew that there were steps that needed to be taken to help these girls find their way back from the trauma of human trafficking. My plans included:
- Counseling services for victims
- Helping them settle into a home
- Setting them up with furnishing and clothing
- Helping them get into college
- Helping them set future goals for themselves
But one day, I was truly listening to a survivor and realized that my agenda was not HER agenda. She noted her greatest desire was to just to start with a bike. She had always wanted a bike as a child and it was the desire of her heart. I suddenly realized that small steps were all these individuals needed, as too big of steps created anxiety and fear for them. Of all the things there were to accomplish in this world after crisis, her goal was not even in the top 100 of my agenda items. Yet, this was what was important to her – and I had to learn that her agenda was all that mattered at that point in time.
So, as Rowntree explored in his book, I ‘switched approaches’ and took a deep approach instead of a surface approach to find out what a survivor desired most. I called it ‘my miracle question.’ It was as simple as asking, ‘If you woke up tomorrow and your world became everything you wanted it to be, what would that look like for you?’[2] Through this ‘miracle question,’ I was able to see the world through the eyes of the survivor. And my knowledge about what it was that SHE was seeking became most important.
Rowntree noted that we acquire our vast fund of everyday facts not through memorizing them, but through living with them. He explained that ‘the focus should be on what people and places and things mean to us and how we relate to them and one another.’[3] This is a powerful statement and I agree with his philosophy. Interaction is the key to retaining knowledge, which, as the author notes, becomes part of the narrative of our lives.
A cute story to end with that pertains to facts and knowledge that I can so relate to:
The teacher of the earth science class was lecturing on map reading. After explaining about latitude, longitude, degrees and minutes, the teacher asked, “Suppose I asked you to meet me for lunch as 23 degrees, 4 minutes north latitude and 45 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude?”
After a confused silence, a voice volunteered, “I guess you’d be eating alone.”
Facts are just facts and hold little meaning to us – unless we learn to understand the meaning of them within our lives in a deep style of embracing how they relate to us in the end. And, with that, I bid you a Cantonese goodbye: “bai.bai”
[1] Derek Rowntree, Learn How to Study: Developing the Study skills and Approaches to Learning That Will Help You Succeed in University, 6 ed. (Amazon Digital Services: Kindle Edition, 2016).
[2] Ibid
[3] Rowntree, Learn How to Study, Kindle.
About the Author
Nancy VanderRoest
Nancy is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and fulfills God's calling on her life by serving as a Chaplain & Counselor with Hospice. In her spare time, Nancy works with the anti-human trafficking coalition in her local community.9 responses to “Facts are just facts….”
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I guess Rowntree does provide a map to learning. He gives simple but detailed ways of learning to understand what is studied. Information has little application when there is no primer to untangle what we have absorbed. I guess that’s why I think the point of the book is about being in control of our learning, rather than the directionless activity of study without knowing why, what or how. Your illustration of the person you helped made precisely that point.
Thanks for your response, Digby. I agree that the why, what, and how are keys to learning. As Rowntree noted, our learning should be based on meaning and relationship. I think that’s what makes learning worthwhile.
Nancy, I appreciated your learning from this book. I love your “miracle question”. Ultimately, what’s so powerful about it is that it puts each person who is asked in the driver’s seat. In our learning, I feel like our last few books have really encouraged us to be in the driver’s seat of our own reading and insights.
Thanks for sharing!
I agree, Karen. Being in the driver’s seat helps us to map the direction for our own lives versus being a following. Thanks for your response and insight.
Nancy, I really like the idea of the “miracle question” and identify with your discovery that its important to ask or determine the real need of the survivor than assume. We serve the urban poor and have witnessed how many organisations come with a mindset to fix problems for the poor and therefore fail in their efforts, they fail to involve the local people in determining what they need.
I agree with you completely, Wallace. If we’re not listening to others and understanding their culture, we are not helping but instead creating confusion and chaos. We need to influence others through meaning and experience to make a difference.
Nancy – this is great! I appreciate the reminder to listen first before we prescribe solutions. You did that with these precious victims. And I think Rowntree does this with students – he studied ‘students’ for many years and really listened to their greatest needs, fears and concerns. Then he responded to those – like you are doing. Bless you and your work!
Thank you so much, Andrea. What a sweet comment! I agree with you that Rowntree looked for meaning in his teaching and truly listened to hear the story behind the story. His comment that the “focus should be on what people mean to us and how we relate to each other” is powerful and what learning should truly be about.
This is so good, Nancy. We have all met people who have acquired a great deal of knowledge and have multiple degrees behind their name, who can pass any written test with flying colors but fail miserably at life. Much practical knowledge but little practice. In reality I know people who have much education but little wisdom about how to apply it effectively. So important to remember application, application, application, that is the key.