Capacity building: Read, Learn,Study

 Capacity building: Read, Learn,Study

I've discovered and observed something  quite interesting about the youth. It's amazing how we can naturally memorise the words of a song, names of celebrities and gossip but we struggle to learn a subject/ module at school. Why do we learn somethings more easily than others?

Knowledge is key

We have lost interest in the most significant. Pollster Hart showed that students do not position the same value on reading/ learning for fun as do thier parents and teachers.Only 34% of students ranked reading skills as important. This figure is alarming as it has effects that enhance literacy, fluent language, capacity builing, spelling and son on. The dramatic decline in reading starts from the ages 17-23. This has eroded the publics confidence in the education systems.

The youth study when they're forced to, due to circumstances such as assignments, examination pressure, class work etc. Why is this? We tend to think that time spent is not a measure of amount accomlpished. Technological aspects have dominated our socities. Students spend most of  their time using  gadgets such as video games and social networks namely facebook, instant messaging and so on.Some reasons focused on are grade inflation where students know they can get reasonable grades without much studying because they settle for less than A's ( 50% is a pass). Students have full-time jobs because they have to pay for their studies. The are exposed to money from parents and whosoever which results in  spending their time on eating, drinking, shopping and entertainment. The abundance of precrastination vehicles contribute.

Findings/ statistics used by the National  Right to Read foundation states:

•  32% of those who can't read basic material are son and daughters of college graduates
• 85% of deliquent children and 75% of adult prison inmates are illetrate
• The cost of taxpayers of adult literacy is $224 billion a year in wlefare payment, crime , job incompetence, lost taxes and remedial education
• Comapnies loose nearly $40 billion anually because of  illetrate

 Reading and learning campaigns such as Multi-Year Literacy, LITCAM and Born Learning Campaigns emphasise: Succesful  study is often about meeting competing demands and deadlines. Prior knowlegde linked to new material with your past experience will help one read more effectively. This helps in:

1. Locating specific information and difficult ideas 
2. Gaining an overview of something
3. To relax and escape to a novel

My suggestion would be to make sure that we buy novels whereby at the end of raeding the book we exchange/rotate the books with each other. This increases an interest in reading/studying and enhances capacity building. DO WE LEAVE THE FLAME DYING?

LETS BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE HAVING TOMORROW'S LEADERS.