I have to do some statistics homework before wednesday, that should keep me from falling into the complacent zone in the class.

As me and my peers are headed off to college where several new ideas, concepts, or formulas will be hurled towards are heads, and our brains will be forced to sit in lecture halls and absorb it all! Well, although there will be tons of information, unfamiliar words, dry reading, and relatively droning speakers, there is one key ingredient that all students should integrate into their study skills that every teacher ive talked to knows is paramount to success in college.  It is a skill that you readers can gather from reading my blog that i have not completely mastered. The ability to present cogent arguments through your writing, and write an array of styles. Of course we all would like to write a "Latane Mason" level essay without trying extremely hard. Because realistically, putting in hours is simply not enough to develop the critical writing skills, and most people do not want to waste time free writing if it will not yield results. Fortunately, I believe i may have found a solution. I have actually been keeping a journal where I daily log new things I have learned about neuroscience and other interesting things. I practice taking an opinion on research or theories, and have found than in very small doses I have become a better writer. In Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot by Richard Restake (who teaches neurology at George Washington University) he says that journals and essays you write actually become an extension of your brain. Thus u can get smarter by logging personal growths you experience, and develop your writing skills as well. I hope it works for us all.

Have you ever read or heard a word used, and could not figure out the definition using context clues? As a young child, I felt unusually intept in determining the meanings of difficult words, and I felt very like I was very dull. Almost as if I had not mastered the english language at all. To combat that feeling, I stive to read the dictionary everyday, and learn as many new, interesting words as I could. Basically just used the world as my vocabulary strengthening oyseter. I feel as though each word you learn through reading and speaking that you look up becomes a new addition to your knowledge. The best part is, it does not take a long time to do! As Dr. Ben Carson once said, If you put small fragments of knowledge together, eventually you will have a bridge. Everytime I learn a new word, and use it, I begin to understand the context and develop a familiarity that only comes from speaking. I would love to hope that I have taught my peers, (many of whom are much smarter than me) new words because I believe so strongly in sharing information, and ideas. This widens the knowledge base of a society, and strengthens us greater than any reading you could do on your own. Think about it this way; if everyone in a class room used words that are not common in everyday dialect, and we were advised to look them up, you will have learned almost 30 new words! This is truly a remarkeable task for any class, and you knowledge of our language definitely broadens. I hope that people in classes will start to use "better" words not to "sound smart", but to enrich the learning experience for every student. Think about it.

When you look through America'a history of scholars, and some of the best in our school (especially the greatest problem solvers), I noticed that many of them understand computer programming, and writing code. Mark Zuckerburg, who I believe has one of the most naturally gifted brains in our society today as well as Bill Gates from past generations, and Paul Allen, (the list goes on and on). Programmers are forced to learn relationships in unique ways due to the debugging process involved in programming. Debugging is basically making changes to a code to get the code to accomplish a task. I do not believe that these people were programmers and software architects because they were smart. I think they are smart because theyre programmers. Take Christopher Poole for an example. He does not analyze concepts like most people do, but it works for him! In fact, in engineering seminar, he is usually the first to understand the concepts, and that is because he seeks to understand how each equation or formula fits into the universe because his brain has learn to scope with a wide, yet critical scope he learned through programming. I think most people having difficulty in tough, concept based classes like Chemistry, Physics, Engineering classes, ect because they fail to understand some critical pieces that tie the concept with the formulas. I along with others seeking to sharpen their problem solving skills should consider working with computer programs. I feel as though the more you can process, the easier it will be for you to process and learn concepts quickly.

I just saw an interview with Michelle Rhee, who was the chancellor for Washington DC public schools. A very well respected neurologist argued that children who are rarely read to, and are not cultivated academically by their environment are already behind, and are not capable of learning at the same level as others. Although some people believe ths statement to be false, and altruistically want to believe everyone can learn at the same rate, this is simply not the case. There is a reason why those that already see the value of education have children that are also very intelligent. They realized how crucial the critical period was, and actively stimulated their children's brains. Children who are not used to using their brains will not just magically be able use them in a critical manner. As we get older, and school gets harder, this practice is even more esential. Some kids learn to love knowledge with no help from there neighborhoods, and others have always been stimulated as a result of their environments. in short, some teachers believe that failing schools are the product of horrible neighborhoods, but I believe that failing neighborhoods are the result of years of failing schools.

As I sit here struggling to prepare for my arduous subject matter for my engineering classes, I am somewhat frustrated by my inability to grasp simple concepts that others seemed to easily relate to. Has our generation declined to the point where we have no hope of obtaining jobs in professions that hire the most gifted minds attainable? As an aspiring neurologists, I seek to understand everything about human intelligence, and how we learn most efficiently. The fact of the matter is, there is soemthing missing in our educational system, it is up to the students to discover the missing variable, and fix it before we fall to far behind in world innovation.  Being a scholar is not tied to being a good student by any stretch of the imagination! Scholars read books , analyze them, ask teachers and others to aid them in their quest for knowledge, do personal research about topics they are truly interested in, and ask thoughtful questions about the world around them. Excellent students tend to pay attention in class, understand the taught subject matter, and ace the tests, right? In my opinion, I think students are striving to be the latter more so than the former, and it is ruining our educational system. We have seen perceptiveness and speed of brilliant students like Jeremy Jones, and Christina Hwang, who seemed to pull out A's without much effort. If we strive to be like those gifted "students" we have neglected to build prowess in a field of our own: curiosity. The effects of becoming a scholar rather than just a gifted student will not see to make a gargantuous difference within the first year of schooling, but your academic performance should improve substantially in future courses just by thinking like a "scholar". Think about it.