Study Tech and the Three Barriers to Study

Across the world today, there are almost a billion people who are illiterate. In addition to that there are the functionally illiterate – those who are not literate enough to function in their jobs, or even get a job. There are over 40 million functionally illiterate in the United States alone and who knows how many millions, possibly even a billion or more, around the world.

Then there is the category of “hidden illiterates” – which are those people who, while seemingly normal in their intelligence, yet have numerous terms and words that are misunderstood, causing them to make mistakes, alter instructions, make financial errors that can cost millions of dollars, and get into arguments and upsets (especially with their bosses and co-workers). They also number in the millions.

Countless good teachers and trainers have given up for lack of results and lack of solutions in systems that inhibit their ideals and creativity. Countless students have given up their studies because they didn't have the confidence to succeed or perhaps thought or were made to think that they were too stupid to succeed.

What we seek to accomplish in any training and education situation is students who have a complete understanding of what they are learning, are fully able to rapidly and correctly apply all of the actions which are called for in their studies, and can use good judgement when necessary.

Study Technology, developed in the 60s by American philosopher and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, provides the tools to learn how to learn. Very simply put, anyone, whether student, educator, parent or trainer, can quickly learn this new learning technology and be able to apply it to help himself or others. Such is its power, it lends itself to improving the learning process in any educational setting, with any subject, and in any language.

As a result, students will:

•    have a full understanding of what they are studying.
•    be fully able to rapidly and correctly apply all of the actions that are called for in their studies.
•    use good judgement when necessary.

If a student or an employee has these abilities, we would find him or her fully proficient in the subject and an “A” student. Without this, an employee may make errors on the job, be slow, waste materials or reduce customer satisfaction. A student would get a “C” or “D” and that could affect his future career. Therefore there is a gap between the actual proficiency and the potential proficiency of the person which we will call the learning gap.

Companies today are faced with a learning gap that produces hidden costs. Here are a list of those possible hidden costs:

LEARNING GAP = HIDDEN COSTS

•    Excessive training costs
•    and remedial training
•    Time costs
•    Personal problems
•    Discipline problems
•    Truancy
•    Drugs and alcohol
•    Turnover costs
•    Failure
•    Errors
•    Lower self-esteem
•    Lack of self-confidence
•    Frantic coping
•    Teacher/trainer frustration
•    Tutoring costs

What learning skills are needed in today’s work environment?

•    Self-reliance.
•    Ability to comprehend your procedures and follow them precisely.
•    Ability to learn everything to a standard of “100% proficiency”.
•    Ability to get “unstuck” when confused.

It is easy to recognise someone who is missing these learning skills.

Symptoms of absent learning skills:

•    Can’t understand.
•    Can’t remember.
•    Not following procedure exactly.
•    Feeling “blank”.
•    Thinking you got it when you didn’t.
•    Guessing.
•    Resistance to learning new things.
•    Errors.
 
Have you ever seen examples of the above?

Study Technology provides the tools to solve these issues. It is NOT just another method. It is a training technology. It consists of exact procedures which, when done, produce the same result each time one applies them. It is a training system. It consists of a whole set of actions that together obtain specific, quantifiable results.

Study Technology's keystone principles revolve around the three barriers to study, what they are, how to recognise them and how to deal with them as they occur - or prevent them occurring at all in the first place. Download a brief guide here from Applied Scholastics International, the not-for-profit organisation which owns the Study Technology trademarks and promotes Study Technology worldwide.

You may also be interested in these articles and further information:

The Technology of Study

The Barriers to Study

Study Tech Books

The Decline of Western Education in the 21st Century

STEMiteracy Initiative

The free on-line "The Technology of Study" takes a mature student or teacher through the basics of Study Tech for immediate application. The course takes just a few hours to do.

It is available in 17 languages (Chinese, Danish, German, English, Greek, Spanish (Castilian and Latino), French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Hungarian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish) and is delivered through the Scientology Volunteers Ministers educational platform.

For Study Tech textbooks aimed at students ages 7+ to adults, including How to Use a Dictionary and Grammar & Communication for Children, please visit the Study Tech books page .

Should you have any question on this article, or would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me at delphineryan@protonmail.com .

As part of my volunteering work, I will give talks to schools or educational institutions. With the advent of online video platforms such as Zoom, I can give talks to groups of students almost anywhere in the world.

Please email if you would like to discuss a talk to your school.