Interest and Awareness is essential.

The other day, a relative of mine watched the news on television. Oh! How horrible! The previous Prime Minister’s wife is dead. Shocked and unable to contain the news further she told a friend at the morning market.
Later, this relative commented about that Prime Minister’s wife’s death to her husband. Upon hearing that, the husband told her she had heard the news wrongly. It was the previous Prime Minister’s wife’s mother who had died.
“Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed. “Are you sure about that?” she enquired.
“Of course, I’m sure of what I heard,” the husband told her.
“Then what I told my friend is wrong. How embarrassing!” she put her hands to her head in despair.

This relative has the habit of listening to unattentively to the news. That was not the first time she got the news wrong. The trouble is that she did not give the news reader her full attention. And she is always so eager to tell others of what she had heard that she often beat the news reader to the end of the particular news. As a result she often jumps to her own conclusion before the news reader could finish the sentence on the news.

There are two possibilities when such a consequence can come about. The person could be not fully aware of what had been said or she had already speeded ahead and formed her own conclusions.Both can lead to getting wrong facts or knowledge.

When it comes to children, they ought to be made to realize that attention in class is important. Discuss with them the reason some people seem to remember or understand things easier or better than others although most children in the class are of almost the same average intelligence. In fact many clever scientists and great intelligent people were once deemed to be weak in their studies.

So, we have to get our children to realise that the difference lie in the interest of the persons in their studies. When the people are interested, they pay greater attention to what is being said. They are aware of what is being explained. Awareness of the logic of the subject brings greater understanding and understanding needs no great memory to retain the subject in the mind. And certainly, they can never get their facts wrong.

However, it is possible that we need to study or understand certain things which are of no interest to us. However, this does not means we cannot generate interest in the topic. Yes, when interest does not come naturally, we have to generate it for our own benefit.

To say that was easy. Right. But, it is easy. All we need to generate that interest is to realize the importance of that particular subject in us, in our future, in our lives. Take for example, the English Language. Since we know it is the international language important enough to make the difference between a good career in an international corporation and a position in a small local company, it would be a great incentive to have us put in effort to master it. That’s right. To generate interest that does not come naturally, there has to be a sufficiently good incentive. So, look for such an incentive.

Sometimes, the incentive may not be direct. It can come through wanting to impress somebody. Although indirect, it serves its purpose, sometimes even better than a direct incentive. A girlfriend can be the push for a guy to do even better just as a boyfriend can be such an energetic force to propel a girl to excellence. Overcoming fate-placed obstacles could be other possible incentives. Dale Carnegie, Napolean Hill, Norman Vincent Peale and many others who have looked into the success stories of many successful people and found that fate-dealt poverty, loss of a beloved and even failures to be incentives to strive for a successful future.

So, incentives are actually what is created by our own mind. For example, if we are born poor, we could use that unfortunate situation as an excuse to remain excusably poor. However, we could also refuse to accept the situation and put in every possible effort to effect change. ( In my previous postings, I have at least one student who did just that. Last week, as the regional manager of a big corporation, he came to my house to invite me to his wedding.He is what I would call a self-made man. He did it despite the odds.)

Enough said about incentives.. With incentives, interest is ever present. Studying of any subject becomes easy.

When a child pays attention in class, there is very little need for revision or tuition. There is more time for rest and recreation, resulting in better development of the child.We have a happier child with greater achievement when there is full attention in class. The self-esteem is also great as teachers like such children not only for their attention but also for the response to questions and results in examination.

As can be seen from the relative’s inattentiveness to the news, paying attention becomes a habit and such habits are beneficial in every aspect of our lives.