Guest Editorial: Wake up, students, teachers, and parents – the keyboard is limiting your education

[Contributed by Jim Ross, longtime St. Patrick parishioner and dedicated lector]

I come from an era when handwritten notes were the only way to document class lectures or to summarize my preparation for exams. However, as I progressed into the digital age, I still retained that practice for study and presentation preparation at work. It has been shown that there is a strong connection between that practice and the retention of information not present when typing. Use the keyboard for efficient note-taking in class and for the final presentation of a paper or presentation, but not for study.

This is not just my opinion; it is backed up by various studies; see: *Psycho-Cybernetics* by Maxwell Maltz; *Switch on Your Brain* by Dr. Caroline Leaf. Of course, the skill of penmanship has declined to the point that handwritten notes are likely to be undecipherable – even by the author. I get my thank-yous from my grandchildren via Text or E-mail. When their mothers force them to sign a card that she has purchased for the occasion, the signature often meets the aforementioned “undecipherable” – truer for the males than the females. Other notes from my college days: study at a desk, sitting in a straight-backed chair; only acceptable music is classical – popular is distracting and rap is destructive. Study every subject every day; your subconscious will process and integrate it, thus increasing retention. 

Just reading text is not very efficient, you have to interact with it in some way. Text only destroys the resale value of the book; if it is important enough to highlight, it is important enough to copy by hand. Don’t keep studying stuff you already know; concentrate on your weak points. Pay attention to what your instructor is saying (cellphone OFF), he might drop a hint about what might be on the test with something like, “This will be on the test.” Your instructor likes to have some class “cut-ups,” so he/she needs to hand out some low grades to show a proper grade distribution. You owe it to your parents to use their money effectively! Studying efficiently is fairly hard – tough!