Ignorance or the state of not knowing is one that is
difficult to mimic. Partly because memory alone cannot reveal the state of mind
of what it is like to not know. Knowledge that when acquired makes only the
memory of the state of ignorance accessible but not that state itself.
Secondly, the impact a concept has on the learner aids in registry. This impact
is again difficult to receive a fresh. A child who learns tables for the first
time observes only what eludes him. He does not observe the concepts as ‘learned
realizations’. A learned realization is the realization of having learnt at the
time of learning itself. Learning and awareness of learning is simultaneous.
Let us take the first reason why it is difficult to
mimic the state of being unaware. There is the initial mystification and
perplexity associated with not being able to recognize what is out there. What
is out there in the text book or in the blackboard is unintelligible. It is
elusive and its coherence is in disguise. The teacher though may make no claims
to be able to demystify it and unravel their real character. If it is an axiom that needs to be
internalized, you find yourself forced to absorb this axiom which for some
elusive reason you have to take for granted. An axiom is established to be
self-evidently true. Some emerge fundamentally out of sensory perception while
some others are accepted over time as rules of the game to operate on the same
plane of consciousness. Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher and
mathematician as a young learner at the age of eleven was introduced to Euclid
by his brother. He found out that Euclid despite his proofs took certain axioms
for granted. Disappointed, he refused to accept them. His brother informed him
that if he does not take the axioms for granted they would not be able to
proceed. Likewise learning has a starting point where you find yourself facing
the fundamental elements that work their way progressively towards a larger
picture of what is there to be known. This larger picture is not necessarily
the complete picture. Supposing you begin with alphabets of a language, you
find yourself compelled, so to say to internalize them in order to eventually
learn how to communicate, express and describe your experiences in a way so as
to be understood by others for utilitarian and non-utilitarian purposes. In the
case where axioms are established over time you can think of language as an
example. The rules of English grammar are established and may be treated as
axioms. There are rules as to how a sentence should be structured independent
of the meaning. These rules operate on the same plane of consciousness that
human beings share.
For a child where is the starting point? A child
learns primarily by seeing, touching and hearing. A child also learns through
the emotional impact of an experience. If you see alphabets or numbers for the
first time, you can only see the symbols but you cannot touch them. By
themselves they do not have any emotional impact. There is an experience that
can be created by the teacher to create an emotional impact. The teacher can
remember the state of mind when he faced the fundamental elements for the first
time but it is this memory that will remind him that he is not the same anymore
and this triggers the state of awareness of knowledge gained and blocks access
to the genuine state of ignorance.
If a teacher cracks a joke while teaching alphabets
a child may associate alphabets with a joke thereby registering the lessons
automatically. This is called positively affected learning but if there is an
unpleasant event in the course of learning the child may register the lessons
taught. However, the child’s attitude towards the subject may be adversely
affected as well.
You need to remember the nature of your affected
learning. Try doing that. It seems plausible that the impact would be difficult
to receive a fresh because of your awareness of your memory. This in turn denies
access to both the impact and your state of mind prior to it.
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