Knowledge-Retention

or 'Aww, what was that thing called?'

     I have a confession to make, I'm a drifter. Well, not the handkerchief-at-the-end-of-a-stick kind of drifter (although I've done that too), I mean I'm an intellectual drifter. I have a lifelong obsession with learning new skills which I will probably never use. Once I understand the underlying principles at work in a new skill or art form, I immediately lose interest and move on to something else. 

    This is not even half as cool as it sounds. I'm already approaching middle-age, nearly broke, and I don't have much to show for my obsession other than some cool stories. No really, this is pathological in my case. I have changed majors so many times that my relatives no longer wince when they ask me "so what are you doing these days?" They just know it's going to be some outlandish answer which will change in a year. I already have about four years in school and still no degree. I have over 80 credits and no freakin' degree* (as of this writing at least).

     However, there is one crucial lesson I would never have learned otherwise; most experts never actually learn how to learn. They just internalize a set of behaviors until it becomes something akin to 'muscle-memory'. This always irritated the hell out of me. Once I fully understood music theory (back when I was a music major), I also then realized that great performers were just people who sat in their room all day and repeated the same mind-numbing exercises until their hands 'knew what to do'. I couldn't imagine a more boring existence, never mind the astronomical odds against a musician ever making a dime in her profession. Still, I can confidently say that I know how to learn better than most of my professors ever will.

     So, when I inevitably move on to some new field of study, I can't help but notice how quickly the hard-won knowledge I gained disappears. I'm no genius, but I'd say I have an above-average intelligence. I have discipline-for-days, an organized mind, and undying tenacity. So, imagine my shock at seeing that information slip away from me in days -- not even months or years, DAYS. I used to be able rattle off every inversion of every chord, letter name by letter name at will. I could sit down with a circuit-diagram and find the Thevenin Equivalence by hand within minutes. Now, I barely remember what Thevenin Equivalence even means. And no, I don't drink, smoke, box, or do anything else which could be construed as self-destructive.

     Thus, I have begun a crusade to retain all knowledge I currently gain, and reclaim all of the knowledge and skills I have lost over the years. This crusade has forced me to realize a central truth of education: most of the crap we teach ourselves and our students gets forgotten faster than it was learned. I'm talking record time. Ask any math-teacher about what happens immediately after summer-break every year of their career. Sadly, only the brightest and best retain enough knowledge to actually absorb new material throughout the semester. Most average students just play catch-up all year long and graduate with passing-grades and only a tentative understanding of the subject at hand. 

     Add to this the fragmented format in which math and most other subjects are taught, and you have a recipe for, well, America's public school system. 

     Currently, my method to defeat this innate human tendency is to find the underlying principles behind every course of study I have undergone so far and formalize it into one declarative language of ideas. Then, each new subject I learn is really just a refresher course with some unique discreet applications in theory. Flashcards, extensive notes and this blog itself are my primary weapons against Information Overload while I develop UP in the dark. I think it is working, but only time will tell. 

     This new method has opened me up to UL and ultimately spawned Universal Primitivism.  It only works with practice though, and there is so much work to do with no guidebook on how to do it. Still, I foresee most people thinking this idea of UP is idealist or even silly, with good reason I suppose. But maybe if you understand why I'm doing it, you will find it is not silly or idealist at all, in fact it is purely pragmatic because it comes from a very real challenge I undergo every day: me versus my memory.

*All 80 credits with straight-As mind you! Well, unless you count those two Bs in Music Theory, man those were hard classes!