EN_BO_Basic_Study_Manual.pdf

BASIC STUDY MANUAL Compiled from the Works of L. RON HUBBARD BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM IMPORTANT NOTE In studying this manual be very, very certain you never go past a word you do not fully understand. The only reason a person gives up a study or becomes confused or unable to learn is that he or she has gone past a word or phrase that was not understood, If the material becomes confusing or you can’t seem to grasp it, there will be a word just earlier that you have not understood. Don’t go any further, but go back to BEFORE you got into trouble, find the misunderstood word and get it defined. Words in this text that are part of the special vocabulary of study and words that are used in a special way are listed in the glossary at the end of the manual. If you don’t find a word or definition that you need, use a dictionary. The essays in this manual have been taken from lectures, articles, books and research notes of L. Ron Hubbard. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 3 BSM TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I BASIC STUDY MANUAL............................................................................................ 1 IMPORTANT NOTE ................................................................................................ 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume I........................................................................ 3 1. Essays On Study ..................................................................................................... 6 Why Study?............................................................................................................... 6 WHAT IS A STUDENT? ......................................................................................... 6 KNOWING IT All ...................................................................................................... 6 Intention..................................................................................................................... 7 NON-APPLICATION ............................................................................................... 7 2. ESSAYS ON WORDS ............................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION TO WORDS .............................................................................. 9 HOW TO USE A DICTIONARY........................................................................... 10 WORDS AND APTITUDE .................................................................................... 11 BRIGHT STUDENTS ............................................................................................ 11 TWO PHENOMENA RE MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS .................................. 12 SIMPLE WORDS ................................................................................................... 13 CONFUSED IDEAS............................................................................................... 13 DICTIONARY SKILL ............................................................................................. 14 READING ALOUD ................................................................................................. 16 3. ESSAYS ON CHECKOUTS ................................................................................ 18 TWIN CHECKOUTS.............................................................................................. 18 CHECKOUT DATA................................................................................................ 18 CHECKOUTS ......................................................................................................... 19 HOW TO DO CHECKOUTS ................................................................................ 21 DEMO KITS ............................................................................................................ 21 DEMONSTRATION ............................................................................................... 22 STAR-RATE CHECKOUT MISTAKES .............................................................. 22 TOUGH CHECKOUTS AND COACHING ......................................................... 23 A PREREQUISITE................................................................................................. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 4 BSM 4. ESSAYS ON COACHING.................................................................................... 25 COACHING............................................................................................................. 25 Dictionary use......................................................................................................... 25 RESPONSIBILITY OF A TWIN ........................................................................... 26 THEORY COACHING........................................................................................... 27 “WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THAT MEANS?” ............................................... 27 HOW PRECISE SHOULD THEORY COACHING BE?................................... 29 HOW TO COACH .................................................................................................. 29 COACHING TIPS................................................................................................... 30 5. ESSAYS ON COURSE ADMINISTRATION..................................................... 31 WHAT IS A CHECKSHEET? ............................................................................... 31 ADMINISTRATION OF THE STUDY COURSE ............................................... 32 SUPERVISOR CHECKOUTS.............................................................................. 34 SUPERVISOR CORRECTIONS ......................................................................... 35 STUDY POINTS..................................................................................................... 35 STUDENT WEEKLY REPORTS ......................................................................... 36 STUDENT WEEKLY REPORT............................................................................ 36 6. ESSAYS OH CLAY DEMOS ............................................................................... 38 CLAY TABLE TRAINING...................................................................................... 38 CUT DEMO SIZE................................................................................................... 39 CLAY TABLE CHECKOUTS................................................................................ 39 CLAY DEMO ERRORS ........................................................................................ 40 7. ESSAYS ON GRADIENTS .................................................................................. 41 GRADIENTS........................................................................................................... 41 TEACHING BY GRADIENT ................................................................................. 41 Example................................................................................................................... 41 HOW STEEP A GRADIENT? .............................................................................. 42 CONFRONTING AND GRADIENTS .................................................................. 42 CONFRONTING PAPER...................................................................................... 45 8. ESSAYS ON COMMUNICATION THEORY..................................................... 46 COMMUNICATION AND STUDY ....................................................................... 46 COMMUNICATION FORMULA........................................................................... BASIC STUDY MANUAL 5 BSM ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................... 49 COMMUNICATION AXIOM ................................................................................. 50 DEMONSTRATING COMMUNICATION ........................................................... 50 TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION........................................................................... 50 9. ESSAYS ON APPLIED COMMUNICATION..................................................... 51 INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED COMMUNICATION ....................................... 51 ADMINISTRATION OF TRAINING ROUTINES ............................................... 51 THE VALUE OF ATTENTION AND CONFRONT ............................................ 52 TRAINING ROUTINE 0......................................................................................... 53 THE VALUE OF INTENTION............................................................................... 55 TRAINING ROUTINE 1......................................................................................... 56 THE VALUE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................... 57 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND STUDY ............................................................... 58 TRAINING ROUTINE 2......................................................................................... 58 GETTING YOUR QUESTION ANSWERED ..................................................... 59 TRAINING ROUTINE 3......................................................................................... 60 10. ESSAYS ON LEARNING................................................................................... 61 THE LEARNING DRILL ........................................................................................ 62 ADVICE ................................................................................................................... 63 SCIENCE ................................................................................................................ 63 LEARNING IMPORTANCES ............................................................................... 64 DRILLS FOR KNOWING...................................................................................... 65 AUTHORITY AND AGREEMENT ....................................................................... 67 DATA EVALUATION ............................................................................................. 68 FUNDAMENTALS ................................................................................................. 68 GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................0 BASIC STUDY MANUAL 6 BSM . ESSAYS ON STUDY “A student connects what he is studying to what he will be doing.” L.R.H. WHY STUDY? A basic reason for studying is to find out how to do things other people have learned by trial-and-error long ago. Imagine the fellow, refusing to study, who comes up with the bright idea of “inventing” a source of power to run gadgets around his home. He spends the rest of his life experimenting, and comes close to a primitive conclusion that somehow… someday… friction might be harnessed to provide energy. His life would have been a lot easier if he’d learned about electricity. You can pick up second-hand information from the printed page. If you had to learn everything first-hand, you’d die stupid. WHAT IS A STUDENT? A student is one who studies. A student is an attentive and systematic observer. He is one who reads in detail in order to learn and then apply what he has learned. As a student studies, he knows that his purpose is to understand the materials he is studying so as to apply the materials to obtain a specific result. A student connects what he is studying to what he will be doing. A student knows what he is going to do with what he is learning. KNOWING IT ALL If you can’t learn, you might check to see if you feel you already “know it all.” If you come up with the answer that you know it all already, ask yourself “then why am I bothering to study it?” Start studying with a good assessment of what you do know and what you don’t know. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 7 BSM INTENTION If a student’s intent is to study the materials so he can pass an exam, he won’t be able to do anything with the subject once the exam is over. He might be a great theoretician, but he won’t be able to use the subject. Some students don’t have any intention other than getting through a course. They are just there, “studying” away. They balk at using techniques for study, such as demonstrating ideas and looking up words for their exact meanings. (These techniques will be explained fully, later in this manual.) When forced to give an example for a rule they have memorized, they maintain the attitude that it has nothing to do with them. “It’s all very interesting to read but…” They act as though the data had no value to them; and, with no intention to use the data, this is true! Non-involvement is a primary barrier to the ability to apply the materials of the course. If the “student” does not plan to use what he is learning, he will find that he does not want to learn. There can be many reasons for study. Points, exams, status, speed, glory, whatever. But the valid reason to study is to be able to understand and apply what is learned. If you can’t learn anything, you can’t find out how to do anything. NON-APPLICATION I have seen a student “concentrate” for hours on his textbook. Then he would go to apply what he read, and do the action 180 degrees in reverse – completely opposite to what was supposed to be done per the text. This is the student who thinks the materials have nothing to do with him. He signed up for the course but is there for some reason other than to use the materials. When you see this kind of phenomenon, you are looking at one or more of three things: 1. Status 2. Non-involvement. Misrepresentation Status You may find a student who is studying because there is prestige or rank involved. “I want to study this course so I can get promoted to lieutenant,” or “I can’t wait to be a doctor so people will finally look up to me.” BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM You see this, for example, where an engineer gets his degree in engineering and never has to use the subject. The degree is a status symbol. He just sits there and has a certificate. Non-involvement You find a student who is afraid to get involved. He becomes a spectator and not a student. You see this in resistance to doing study drills properly or using a demo kit (a tool to represent the materials being studied – described in detail later in this manual). The student is afraid to really get into the materials he is studying. Misrepresentation You find people who represent themselves as something when they are not. “I am a student” means nothing when the fellow doesn’t even know what a student is, and certainly hasn’t begun to apply the data about study to himself. Or, “I am a nurse,” and the girl never uses nursing. She is really no more than a symbol. Any of these three equals lack of application of data, no execution of ideas, and, therefore, no ability to do. These points, when used, can help a student or instructor locate what is preventing the student from applying the material he is studying to produce a desired result. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 9 BSM . ESSAYS ON WORDS “In learning, do not lean over into the significance exclusive of the mass. The word and the thing are balanced, along with what you do with the thing.” L.R.H. INTRODUCTION TO WORDS One of the biggest barriers to learning a new subject is its nomenclature, meaning the set of terms used to describe what it deals with. A subject must have accurate labels which have exact meanings before it can be understood and communicated. If I were to describe every part of the body as a “thingamabob” or a “whatsitsname,” we would all be confused (especially those of us entertaining a medical career). The accurate naming of things is a very important part of any field. A student comes along and starts to study a subject and has a terrible time of it. Why? Because he or she not only has a lot of new principles and methods to learn, but a whole new language as well. Unless the student understands this, unless he or she realizes that one has to “know the words before one can sing the tune,” he or she is not going to get very far in any field of study or endeavor. Undefined words Now I am going to give you an important datum: The only reason a person gives up a study or becomes confused or unable to learn is because he or she has gone past a word that was not understood. The confusion or inability to grasp or learn comes after a word that the person did not have defined and understood. Have you ever had the experience of coming to the end of a page and realizing you didn’t know what you had read? Well, somewhere earlier on that page, you went past a word for which you had no definition. Here’s an example. It was found that when the crepuscule arrived the children were quieter, and when it was not present, they were much livelier. You see what happens. You think you don’t understand the whole idea, but the inability to understand comes entirely from the one word you could not define, crepuscule, which means twilight or darkness. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 0 BSM This datum about not going past an undefined word is the most important fact in the whole subject of study. Every subject you have taken up and abandoned had words which you failed to get defined. How to proceed Therefore, in studying, be very very certain you never go past a word you do not fully understand. If the material becomes confusing or you can’t seem to grasp it, there will be a word just earlier that you have not understood. Don’t go any further, but go back to before you got into trouble, read forward to find the misunderstood word, and get it defined. In studying a new subject, it will not only be the unusual words particular to that subject that you will have to look up. Some commonly used words can often be misdefined and so cause confusion. Don’t depend on a technical dictionary or glossary alone. Use a general English language dictionary as well for any non-technical word you do not understand when you are reading or studying. HOW TO USE A DICTIONARY Some words that a student misunderstands and looks up can yet remain troublesome. It’s this way. The student runs across a word he or she doesn’t understand. He or she looks it up, finds a substitute word and uses that. Of course the first word is still misunderstood and remains a bother. Example (Line in text) “The size was Gargantuan.” The student looks up the word, Gargantuan, and finds in the dictionary: “like Gargantua, huge.” The student uses “huge” as a synonym and reads the text line. “The size was ‘huge’.” A short while later, he or she is still incapable of understanding the paragraph below “Gargantua” in the text. The principle is that one goes dull after passing over a word one does not understand and brightens up the moment he or she spots the word that wasn’t grasped. In actual fact, the brightening up occurs whether one defines the word or not. But to put another word in the place of the existing word is to mess it all up. The correct procedure The correct procedure is to look over, get defined well and understood the word that was used. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM In this case the word was “Gargantuan.” Very well, what’s that? It means “like Gargantua.” The dictionary says it was the name of a gigantic king in a book written by the author Rabelais. Cheers, the student thinks. The sentence meant, “The size was a gigantic king.” Oops! That’s the same mistake again, like “huge.” But we’re nearer. So what to do? He or she uses “Gargantuan” in a few made-up sentences and bingo! The word that was used is suddenly understood. Now the sentence is read right. “The size was Gargantuan.” And what does that mean? It means, “The size was Gargantuan.” And nothing else. WORDS AND APTITUDE Words establish talent, aptitude and human relations. The understanding of words, the use of words, and the application of words (such as to express ideas) enable a person to develop his skills and improve his abilities. The ability of Joe to program a computer speedily and correctly will depend upon whether or not he knows and can use the words pertaining to computer programming. If Joe is having trouble programming computers, there’s a word in the vocabulary of computer programming that Joe didn’t understand, followed by an inability to act in the field of computer programming. Not knowing the words means not having the ability. Knowing the words means having the ability. It’s just that simple. The speed of application of ability depends upon changing misunderstood words to understood words. BRIGHT STUDENTS There are not “bright” students and “dull” students. There are careful and careless students. Careless study is skipping over a misunderstood word which results in “dullness.” Careful study is not glossing over a misunderstood word. “Brightness” is dependent on understanding of nomenclature and phenomena represented. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM TWO PHENOMENA RE MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS First phenomenon When a student misses understanding a word, the section right after that word is a blank in his or her memory. You can always trace back to the word just before the blank, get it understood, and find miraculously that the former blank area is now not blank in the text. This is pure magic. Second phenomenon The second phenomenon occurs after the student has gone by many misunderstood words. He or she begins to dislike the subject being studied more and more. This is followed by various mental and physiological conditions. Then come various complaints… fault-finding… “Look-what-you-did-to-me!”… “This author sure writes funny.” … “How can I understand when the guy doesn’t explain what’s happening?… leaves out all that stuff?… uses all those big words?” A student having been so “wronged” by the subject, teacher, school or whatever now has an excellent “reason” for leaving that subject forever! Most educational systems frown on dropouts – students who leave subjects and classes. Some students get around this by staying in class physically, but withdrawing mentally. These students won’t study the subject directly, but set up a “memory machine” which can receive and give back sentences and phrases. These students can study some words and give them back memorized. These students can get A+ on exams, but can’t apply the data. These are the all-too-common “quick” students who somehow cannot apply what they learn. Demonstration Demonstration is the key to avoid the second phenomenon, with its results of dropouts and “bright non-appliers.” To demonstrate means to show by using examples, explanations, etc. The moment you ask the glib student to demonstrate a rule or theory with his hands or the paper clips on the desk, his inability to use the data he has memorized will become apparent. The reason for this is that in memorizing words or ideas, the student can hold the position that it has nothing to do with him or her. It is a total circuit action. The moment you say demonstrate that word or idea or principle, the student has to have something to do with it. The glibness shatters. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM The student who appears thoroughly “dull” is just stuck in the non-comprehend blank-ness following some misunderstood word. The “very bright” student who can’t use the data doesn’t have anything to do with it at all. He has long since abandoned being involved with the subject. The cure for either of these conditions of “bright non-comprehend” or “dull” is to find the missing word or words. These conditions can be prevented by not letting the student go beyond the missed word without grasping its meaning. And that is the duty of the student, his study partner, and the course supervisor. SIMPLE WORDS You might suppose at once that it is the BIG words or the technical words which are most misunderstood. This is not the case. It is simple words and not technical words which prevent understanding. Words like a, the, exist, such and other “everybody knows” words are seldom understood. It takes a big dictionary to define these simple words fully. This is another oddity. The small dictionaries also suppose “everybody knows.” The earliest misunderstood The earliest misunderstood word in a subject is a key to later misunderstood words in that subject. For this course, ensure that the words basic, study, manual, by and essay are understood fully. Then come words like a, the and other simple English words. CONFUSED IDEAS Whenever a person has a confused idea of something, or believes there is some conflict of ideas, it is always true that a misunderstood word exists at the bottom of that confusion. Example STUDENT: I just don’t understand this idea of opposing forces. I think it all ought to be rewritten and… COACH: Is there any word there you don’t understand? BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM STUDENT: Oh, no, I understand all the words. It’s… COACH: What about “force”? STUDENT: (Silence.) COACH: Let’s look it up. STUDENT: Oh, no, I know what it means. It’s the idea that… COACH: Let’s look it up. STUDENT: Well, all right. Let’s see… D… E… F… FO… FORCES. Here it is. “That which changes the motion of a body on which it acts.” COACH: Use it in a sentence several times. STUDENT: (Student does.) COACH: How do you feel about that word now? STUDENT: I’ve got it! And all this time I thought it meant police brutality! Couldn’t figure out why two police forces would fight! COACH: Okay. Now how do you feel about this idea of opposing forces? STUDENT: Why that’s clear enough. Just like I’d never read it before! Don’t clarify – find the misunderstood All students new to these study methods will argue and fuss about ideas or confusions in the directions or material they are given to read. They will generate weird ideas and erroneous concepts of what the text says. They will do wrong things and say the text said to. They will ask for explanations of strange ideas from their supervisors. They will clamour for clarifications. And at the bottom of all this is simply the misunderstood word. There are not also misunderstood ideas. There is only the misunderstood word, which breeds huge towering wrong ideas. A misunderstood word breeds strange ideas. DICTIONARY SKILL Familiarity with the dictionary is mandatory to successful study. The alphabet Knowledge of the alphabet is the key to finding words quickly. The alphabet must be known cold. Words are arranged in alphabetical order in all dictionaries. All words beginning with the letter A are in the first section, all words beginning with the letter B in BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM the second section, and so on. Within these sections the words themselves are arranged so that each second letter in the word is in alphabetical order. (For example, the word fall precedes the word few, which precedes the word field, etc.) Near the top of each page, printed in bold type, are the first word and the last word on that page. In very large dictionaries, these headings are over every two columns. You can use these headings as a guide to find quickly the page that contains the word you are looking for. How to break up a word Many words are in a combined form. By separating a word into its components, you can look up each part in the dictionary; the meaning of the word often becomes clearer. Take the word theology. The first part, theo-, means god or gods, and the second part, – logy, means discourse or expression or the science, theory or study of. When you put the two parts together, you have the science, theory or study of God or gods. Sometimes in combining forms of words, a letter is changed, as in the word individu(e)-ate. Look up words in the definition Many times when looking up a word, you will find in its definition other words which need to be looked up in order to understand the meaning of the original word. Each word given in the definition must also be clearly defined and understood so that there are no misunderstood words underlying the word you are looking up. Large children’s dictionaries are good for this as the definitions of the words are simple. Use a big enough dictionary The smaller dictionaries (paperback or junior) seldom contain complete definitions of a word. Sometimes the most vital part of a definition is omitted. This can involve running around to look for another dictionary, or missing the real meaning of the word. Always use a big enough dictionary. Foreign words There are two kinds of foreign language dictionaries. One is a dictionary entirely in the foreign language. The other is the English/foreign language dictionary, in which one half of the dictionary is English words with the foreign words next to it, and the other half is foreign words with their English counterparts next to them. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 16 BSM You would use the all-foreign dictionary only with a person who knew that language fluently. In studying a foreign language, it is often found that misunderstood grammar words of one’s own language that tell about the grammar in the foreign language are basic to not being able to learn the foreign language. Summary You use a dictionary. It is always a misunderstood word, never a concept or idea. READING ALOUD If a person does not seem to be progressing by studying silently, you can have him read aloud. This is recommended when working with children, people whose native language is not English, and students not facile with the language. As the person reads, you must follow along in another copy of the same text. Startling things can be observed. For example… The person may omit the word “is” whenever it occurs. The person doesn’t read it. He may have some strange meaning for it like “abbreviation for Israel” (actual occurrence). He may omit “didn’t” each time it appears, and the reason traced to not knowing what the apostrophe is (actual occurrence). He may call one word quite another word, such as “stop” for “happen” or “green” for “mean.” He may hesitate over certain words. Procedure 1. Have him read aloud. 2. Note each omission or word change or hesitation or frown as he reads and take it up at once. 3. Correct it by looking it up for him or explaining it to him. 4. Have him go on reading, noting the next omission, word change or hesitation or frown. 5. Repeat steps 2 to. By doing this, a person can be brought up to literacy. His next actions would be learning how to use a dictionary and look up words. After that, he should use a simple grammar textbook and look up grammatical words BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM and small words. (Words like “a,” “the,” and “and” are really parts of language construction, and are more complex than they at first appear.) A semi-literate student can be boosted up to literacy by this method. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 18 BSM . ESSAYS ON CHECKOUTS “Correct examination is done by having the person being tested demonstrate how the data is used.” L.R.H. TWIN CHECKOUTS In studying, excellent results may be obtained by use of a system called twin checkouts. Each student is assigned a twin – a study partner with whom to work. Each student studies his assigned material, and, when necessary, is coached over the rough spots by his twin. (Coaching is described fully further in the text. Briefly, it is the way a twin helps his student to understand the material, and progress rapidly and happily through the course.) When the student knows the assignment, he is given a checkout by his twin. In this action, the twin “checks” to ensure his student has mastered the key data in a portion of the study assignment. Each such portion is described by a suitable title on a list of steps necessary for course completion. This list is called a checksheet. Checksheets have theory and practical items. Theory means the data part of a course. Practical refers to the drills which permit the student to associate and coordinate data with the objects and actions to which the data applies. When the student passes a checkout, his twin certifies that he has grasped that material by signing that item on his student’s checksheet. If the student flunks a checkout, he simply returns to study and, when ready, gets a new checkout. Understanding Education sometimes suffers because a student masters only the “words” of a course of study, neglecting the “tune.” It will never do a student any good at all to know some facts. The student must be able to use facts. It is so easy to confront thought, and so hard to confront action, that the student is often satisfied to mouth words and ideas that mean nothing to him. Thus we have the rule: All theory checkouts must consult the student’s understanding. CHECKOUT DATA Not all items on a checksheet require a checkout. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 19 BSM Items which are zero-rated (0) on a checksheet are attested to by the student on the basis of general understanding. Star-rated (*) items require very exact checkouts to verify the student’s full and minute knowledge of a portion of study materials, and to test his full understanding of the data and ability to apply it. This does not mean, however, that every word must be tested for comprehension. Following are some firm rules for giving checkouts. Spot-check Spot-check the words and materials; do not try to cover it all. This is done the same way a final exam is given: only a part of the material is covered by examination, assuming that if the student has this right, he knows all of it. When to flunk Flunk on a pause. Flunk an incorrect answer. Flunk an off-the-subject answer. If the student gives an “er… ah… well…” – flunk it, as the subject certainly isn’t known well enough to use. Never continue examining the material after a student has missed. How well must the material be known? The star-rate checkout must yield 100% right answers for a pass. 75% is not enough. When material has not been considered important enough for a 100% pass, it will have to be zero-rated, not star-rated. In other words, on those you check out, require00%. On less important material, don’t examine. Merely require evidence of having read. CHECKOUTS Giving a checkout by seeing if the text assignment can be quoted or paraphrased proves exactly nothing. This will not guarantee that the student knows the data or can use or apply it. Neither the “bright” nor the “dull” student (both suffering from the same malady – misunderstood words) will benefit from such an examination. So examining by seeing if someone “knows” the text and can quote or paraphrase it is completely false and must not be done. What to look for in a checkout Correct examination or checkout is done only by making the person being tested answer: BASIC STUDY MANUAL 20 BSM 1. The meanings of the words (re-defining the words used in his own words and demonstrating their use in his own made-up sentences) and. Demonstrating how the data is used. The twin can ask what the words mean. And the twin can ask for examples of action or application. “What is the first paragraph?” is about as dull as one can get. “What are the rules given about…?” is a question I would never bother to ask. Neither of these tell the twin whether he has the bright non-applier or the dull student before him. Such questions just beg for student upsets and course dropouts. Example of a checkout I would go over the first paragraph of any material I was examining a student on and pick out a few uncommon words. I’d ask the student to define each and demonstrate its use in a made-up sentence and flunk the first “well… er… let me see…” and that would be the end of that checkout – to be restarted after the student had restudied and/or has had more coaching. Above all, I myself would be sure I knew what the words mean before I started to examine. When the student had the words, I’d demand the music. What tune do these words play? I’d say, “All right, of what use is this text assignment to you?” Questions like: “Now this rule here about not letting people eat sweets while dieting, how come there’d be such a rule?” If the student couldn’t imagine why, I’d send him back to the words just ahead of that rule to find the one he hadn’t grasped. I might also have a stack of paper clips and rubber bands. I’d use them to have the student show me that he or she knew the words and ideas. The dictionary Dictionaries are a vital tool for study and coaching. Students should have them, and they should be readily available; preferably, the same publication. Dictionaries don’t always agree with each other. No twin should try to define words out of his own head when correcting a student, as it leads to too many arguments. Open a dictionary. Be mindful of the gradient If the student wasn’t up to the point of study where knowing why was part of his materials, I wouldn’t ask. It is very important that a student not be examined above his or her level. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 21 BSM HOW TO DO CHECKOUTS The important points of the text assignment are: 1. The specific rules, laws, theorems, axioms or maxims. 2. The “doingness” details, exactly how it is done. 3. The theory of why it is done. All else (except, of course, that the student knows what the words mean) is unnecessary. As a twin, all you have to demand from a student in a checkout is the above. 1. The rules, laws, theorems, axioms and maxims must be known and the student must be able to show their meanings are known to him. 2. The “doingness” must be exactly known as to sequence and actions but not verbatim (in the same words as the text). 3. The theory must be known as a line of reasoning… reasons why or related data and with accuracy, but not verbatim. The date a book was written is relatively unimportant, and other details of like nature should never be asked for. If a student is ever going to apply the data, then above (1) must be down cold, (2) must be able to be experienced and (3) must be appreciated. Asking for anything else is to rebuff interest and give a feeling of failure to the person being examined. A twin should examine with exactness on (1), alertness on (2), and seeing if the student understands (3). A twin should not go beyond these points – asking what is the copyright date, what are the first words, etc. Irrelevant examination questions only slow the student and extend the course. It might also be noted that checkouts on text assignments must also ask for demonstrations. Use paper clips, rubber bands, etc. The twin should ask questions that require an ability to apply. Give the student a situation and have him tell you how he would handle it. So be as tough as you please, but only on (1), (2) and ) above. DEMO KITS All students should have their own demonstration kits (demo kits). A demo kit is a bunch of rubber bands, fuses, corks, caps, paper clips, coins or whatever will do. These are kept in a box or container. Tobacco tins and dairy cartons are good. A demo kit can be used for all study while reading, watching films, listening to tapes, looking up words – all study. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 22 BSM A demo kit adds mass (a quantity of matter), reality and “doingness” (action and involvement) to the significance – the text assignment. Using a demo kit One moves the pieces of the demo kit making them demonstrate what one is studying. The pieces of the kit represent the things one is demonstrating. They help hold concepts and ideas in place. Thus the idea of a professor, a student and a blackboard become real with two coins and a paper clip. They can be seen and felt. DEMONSTRATION The purpose of demonstration is to detect glibness on checkouts. If a student can’t demonstrate a datum by the use of a few rubber bands or paper clips, it is obvious the person is glib – able to quote the words but not able to apply the data. The solution would be to find WHY that person is not applying the study technology, get him oriented toward application, locate and handle any words he didn’t understand in his materials, and get them re-studied and checked out. Demo kits as study aids If the student is not clear on something he is studying and has looked up all the words, he may use a demo kit to help him work it out. This is not demanded. It is at the discretion of the student himself. Objects as study aids There is another form of demonstration, by far the best where applicable, and that is to show the actual thing to the person. It is limited to those things which currently exist and are available. You can show a housewife a washing machine, but you can’t show a person “truth” in quite the same way. “Truth” can, however, be very well demonstrated with a demo kit. STAR-RATE CHECKOUT MISTAKES The following is a list of the most frequent mistakes made when giving starrate checkouts.. Not flunking immediately on a pause, but getting “reasonable” and allowing the student to carry on with the checkout. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 23 BSM 2. Not spot-checking a student on his or her material. 3. Not asking the student to use a word in a sentence, after having asked him to define the word in his own words. You ask for the meaning of the word and the use of the word in a made-up sentence. 4. Not knowing that a dull student is stuck in the blank space right after a misunderstood word, and that a dull student is handled the same way as is a glib student. 5. Not asking questions that demand an ability to apply, assuming that if you ask a student to demonstrate, you have asked him to apply the data. This is the most important point in giving a checkout and is the purpose of giving a checkout. It must never be neglected.. Not sending a student back to restudy his text when he flunks, but instead showing it to him, and then carrying on with the checkout. Also, doing this when a student flunks on a word – just having him look the word up and continuing the checkout, without having him look up the word and restudy the material. TOUGH CHECKOUTS AND COACHING Morale depends on production. Production is the evidence of the demonstration of competence – the exhibition or exercise of competence. Morale is up when competence is demonstrated. Morale is up when production is up. Morale isn’t necessarily built by being nice. A student getting a tough coaching session and passing, or getting a tough checkout and passing – feels great. He has really accomplished something. He knows that he knows the data or drill. A student who gets poor or non-standard coaching or checkouts feels and knows that he has been cheated. If his twin is just being nice, he doesn’t win, and doesn’t appreciate the checkout. His morale is down. Additionally, a situation can occur where the student and coach are not both working toward the same goal, but one is in opposition to the other in some way. This gives no progress, no wins, no production, no demonstration of competence permitted, and low morale. Students and supervisors must not allow such a situation to occur. Keep your twin’s morale and production high. Give him tough standard coaching sessions so he becomes competent. Give him tough standard checkouts so he knows he has demonstrated his competence with the materials. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM To keep the course morale high, supervisors must insist on the demonstration of competence on all materials by the student, and on production. A PREREQUISITE Before any person may give another a star-rate checkout, he must himself have read (or in the case of a tape, listened to) the material. This will make it possible to consult the understanding and ability to apply the material of the person being checked out. It is optimum if the person giving the checkout has been star-rated on the materials. Often this is not possible, as in two twins just beginning a course. In this instance, both twins read, study, or coach and checkout the material, according to the theory of twin checkouts. This policy should make checkouts faster and more effective. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 25 BSM . ESSAYS ON COACHING “The twin handles anything that slows or interferes with his student’s progress.” L.R.H. COACHING When a student is having trouble or is slow or glib while working on a theory assignment, he is theory-coached by his twin. In theory-coaching, a twin gets his student to define all the words and give all the rules in the troublesome portion of the text, and has the student demonstrate things with his hands or bits of things. The twin doing the coaching is called the coach. The twin receiving the coaching is the student. Coaching is a different action entirely from a checkout. The twin who confuses the two – coaching when a checkout is required, or vice versa – will bring course progress to a halt. DICTIONARY USE A dictionary is used in coaching. Each misunderstood word is looked up in the dictionary by the student, and the meaning read aloud. The student tells the coach what the word means so that he knows it WITHOUT AGAIN REFERRING TO THE DICTIONARY. Then the student uses the word in several sentences which clearly indicate to the coach that the student’s understanding has been consulted. A word sometimes has several meanings. The coach has to choose the meaning applicable to its text context. The student’s use of the word in sentences must have the same meaning as the use of the word in the material being coached. Practical coaching Coaching is also done on the practical sections of this course. The basics of theory coaching apply to practical coaching, except that instead of helping his student understand data, the coach is helping his student increase his ability to do some action. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 26 BSM RESPONSIBILITY OF A TWIN A twin must know how to keep his student tearing along successfully in his studies. The twin handles anything that slows or interferes with his student’s progress. He applies the study technology whenever necessary to assist his twin. When to start handling The twin does not wait until his student has fallen asleep to detect the presence of a misunderstood word. Nor does he wait until his student gets drowsy, or begins to “dope-off.” This is twinning far below peak level. Rewarding study ceased long before the student reached the point of “dopeoff”, so waiting for “dope-off” to occur before handling is waiting too long. As soon as the twin isn’t quite so “bright” as he was 15 minutes ago is the time to look for a misunderstood word. (It’s not a misunderstood phrase or idea or concept but a misunderstood word.) How to handle 1. One twin notices his student is not flying along and is not so “bright” or lacks enthusiasm or is too long on one item on the checksheet or is yawning or disinterested or doodling or day-dreaming, etc. 2. The twin has his student look earlier in the text for a misunderstood word. There is one always. There are no exceptions. It may be that the misunderstood word is two pages back; it is always earlier in the text from where the student is now. 3. The word is found. The student recognizes it in looking back for it, or the twin acting as coach asks, “What does…… mean?” if the student can’t find it. Here the coach takes words from the text that could be the misunderstood word and sees if the student gives the correct definition. 4. The twin has his student look up the word found in a dictionary and use it verbally several times in sentences of his own composition, until the student has obviously demonstrated he understands the word. 5. The twin has his student read the text that contained the misunderstood word. If the student isn’t now bright, eager to get on with it, etc., then there is another misunderstood word earlier in the text. This is found by repeating steps 2-5. 6. When the student is bright, the coach has his twin come forward from where the misunderstood word was in the text to the area of the subject he did not understand (where step 1 began). The student will now be enthusiastic with his study, unless a misunderstood word was missed or there’s an earlier one in the text. If so, do steps 2. If the student is now enthusiastic, the twin has him continue studying. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM THEORY COACHING Theory stress All stress in the theory section of a course is on duplicating and understanding the data. To duplicate means to make an exact copy of. To understand means to grasp the meaning or idea of; to comprehend. Full understanding of data can never occur without duplication of the data. Sometimes, the student will seem to duplicate data. He may even be able to spout it off verbatim. Yet, later, it turns out he couldn’t apply the data if his life depended on it. This student is relying on a “memory machine.” Real duplication is never a matter of turning on a “memory machine.” Understanding is never automatic. A method of theory coaching that produces the results of duplication, understanding, and retention of data is the “What Do You Consider That Means?” Coaching Drill. “WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THAT MEANS?” The student and the coach sit opposite each other, each holding a copy of the material to be learned. Step one The coach has the student read aloud the rule, definition, sentence or short paragraph to be learned. (The coach must only ask for one major thought to be read aloud at a time.) When the student has read what was asked for the coach acknowledges. (Acknowledgements used are “good,” “O.K.,” “fine,” “all right,” or “thank you.”). The coach repeats this step until the student reads the material exactly as written. Step two The coach asks the student the exact question, “What do you consider that means?” and always acknowledges whatever answer the student gives him. “Flunks” are not used on this drill. Step three Repeat Step one and Step two until the student duplicates the material to be learned in response to the question “What do you consider that means?” The coach then asks the question, “Do you understand what it means?” If the student doesn’t or is not sure, repeat Steps one and two until the student is able to duplicate and understand what it means. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM The coach then takes up the next major thought. Sample “What do you consider that means?” coaching session COACH: Read the communication formula aloud. STUDENT: Communication can be defined as the interchange of ideas or objects between two people. COACH: Good. What do you consider that means? STUDENT: Well……… (pause) Communication can be defined as the interchange of ideas or objects between two people. COACH: Thank You. Do you understand what it means? STUDENT: Yes, Communication can be defined as the interchange of ideas or objects between two people. COACH: Good. Now read the next sentence. STUDENT: From this we see that we need at least two people and at least one idea to be communicated between them, (left out “or object” between “idea” and “to be communicated”. COACH: OK. Read that again. STUDENT: (student reading along)……………at least one idea…Oh! or object to be communicated between them. COACH: Thank you. What do you consider that means? STUDENT: (Goes into explanation) COACH: (When student is finished) Thank You. Read the sentence again. STUDENT: (Does so) COACH: Thank you. What do you consider that means? STUDENT: Let’s see……… We need at least two people. COACH: Fine. Read it again. STUDENT: From this we see that we need at least two people and at least one idea or object to be communicated between them. COACH: Good. What do you consider that means. STUDENT: From this we see that we need at least two people and at least one idea or object to be communicated between them. COACH: Thank you. Do you understand what that means? STUDENT: Yes. COACH: All right. Read the next sentence. STUDENT: First of all we have one person who starts the communication. BASIC STUDY MANUAL COACH: Good. What do you consider that means? STUDENT: (Repeats the sentence). COACH: Thank You. Do you understand what that means? STUDENT: Yes. COACH: Good. Read the next sentence and so forth. BSM HOW PRECISE SHOULD THEORY COACHING BE? The exactness of duplication required is dependent on the importance of the material being coached. Rules and basics must be duplicated word for word and understood. General theory and examples must be understood. Remember: exact duplication has nothing to do with memorizing. Exact duplication is a matter of getting exactly what is being said. If you are in doubt whether the student has duplicated the data well enough, continue the theory coaching on that data. Coaches will find that some students spend a lot of time on the first materials taken up in theory coaching. Don’t be concerned. Do the drill, exactly as written, and the student’s ability to duplicate, understand and retain will improve rapidly. His rate of learning will also pick up, the more theory coaching he receives. HOW TO COACH To increase your effectiveness as a coach, apply these basics: Coach with a purpose Have for your goal when you are coaching that the student is going to get the lesson correct. Be purposeful in working toward obtaining this goal. Whenever you correct your student as a coach, don’t just do it with no reason, with no purpose. Have the purpose in mind for the student to get a better understanding of the material. Coach with intention Behind all coaching should be your intention that by the end of the coaching session, your student will be aware that he is doing better than he did at the beginning. You want the student to have a feeling that he has accomplished something, no matter how small it is. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 0 BSM It is your intention while coaching that your student be a more able person and have a greater understanding of the lesson on which he is being coached. Take up only one thing at a time Make sure that the student does each step you coach him on correctly before going on. As the student gets better at a particular drill or part of a drill, you should demand, as a coach, a higher standard of ability. This does not mean that you should never be satisfied. It does mean that a person can always get better. Once you have reached a certain plateau of ability, work toward a new plateau. COACHING TIPS As a coach, you are primarily responsible for the results that are obtained by the student. Good control Make sure you always run good control on the student and give him good directions. You should always work in the direction of better and more precise coaching. Never allow yourself to do a sloppy job; you would be doing your student a disservice. You would not want the same disservice. Never give an opinion as such, but always give your directions as a direct statement, rather than saying “I think” or “well, maybe it might be this way…” etc. If you are ever in doubt about the correctness of what your student is doing or of what you are doing, ask the supervisor for assistance. Handling rationalizations Once in a while the student will start to rationalize and justify what he is doing if he is doing something wrong. He will give you “reasons why” and “becauses.” Talking about such things at great length does not accomplish very much. The only thing that does accomplish the goals of the drill and resolves any differences is doing the drill. You will get further by doing it than by talking about it. Acknowledge There is a small thing that most people forget to do, and that is telling the student when he had got the drill right, or he has done a good job on a particular step. Besides correcting wrongness, there is also complimenting Tightness. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 31 BSM Self coaching You very definitely flunk the student for anything that amounts to self-coaching. Self-coaching is the student doing the coach’s job. An example would be the student telling the coach, “You forgot to flunk me.” The reason for flunking self-coaching is to stop the student from introverting – from looking too much at how he is doing and what he is doing rather than just doing it. Your attention As a coach, keep your attention on the student and how he is doing. Don’t become so interested in what you yourself are doing that you neglect the student, and are unaware of his ability or inability to do the drill correctly. It is easy to become “interesting” to a student, to make him laugh and act up a bit. But your main job as a coach is to see how good he can get in understanding and applying the subject. That is what you should have your attention on. To a large degree, the progress of the student is determined by the standard of coaching he receives. Being a good coach produces students who can apply what they learn. . ESSAYS ON COURSE ADMINISTRATION “The essential part of the course is the students.” “When there is nothing wrong in the class and the students are going along well, the supervisor does not act to correct.” L.R.H. WHAT IS A CHECKSHEET? A checksheet is a form which sets out item-by-item the exact sequence of data to be studied or actions to be done by a student on a course. It lists all the materials of the course, in the order to be studied. And it provides a place for the student (or the person checking out the student) to put his initial and the date as each item on the checksheet is successfully completed. The checksheet is the program that the student follows to complete the course. Each student is given a complete checksheet at the start of the course. The checksheet is not added to after he has started working on it. It is in its final form when it is handed to him. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM Order of the checksheet The data of the course are studied and its drills are performed in the order on the check-sheet. The student does not jump around, or study the material in some other order. The materials are arranged on the checksheet in the best order for study by the student. He covers all the material in logical sequence. Further, following the exact order of the checksheet has been found to have a disciplinary function which assists the student to study. Initials are attestations The student’s initials beside a zero-rated item are an attestation that he knows in detail and can apply the material of that checksheet item or that he has done and can do that drill. The initials of the supervisor or another student beside a star-rated item are an attestation by him that he has given the student a standard star-rate checkout on the item and that the student passed. The supervisor must inspect students’ checksheets during the course period to ensure that all students are following the checksheet in its correct order, and that they are making good progress through it. ADMINISTRATION OF THE STUDY COURSE This course is run by a supervisor. The supervisor has himself been fully trained on the contents of this course. Role of the supervisor The supervisor is not expected to “teach.” He is expected to get the students to class; take attendance; monitor coaching and checkouts; and watch for the indicators of, and handle, any misunderstood words. In addition, he handles students’ questions by referring them to the source of the data queried. The supervisor who tells students answers is wasting time on this course, and will eventually destroy it. The supervisor is not an “instructor.” That’s why he’s called a supervisor. A supervisor’s skill is in spotting students falling asleep and day-dreaming and other manifestations of misunderstoods, and getting them cleaned up – not in knowing the data so he can tell the student. A supervisor should have an idea of what questions he will be asked and know where to direct the student for the answer. Students dropping out of course follows students’ misunderstoods. A supervisor who is on the ball never has any dropouts. He caught them before they happened by observing the students’ misunderstandings before the students did, and got them tracked down by the students. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM Job of the supervisor It is the supervisor’s job to get the student through the checksheet fully and swiftly with minimum lost time. The successful supervisor is tough. He is not a kindly old fumbler. He sets high point targets for each student for the day and forces them to be made or else. The supervisor is spending “supervisor minutes.” He has just so many to spend. He is spending “student hours.” He has just so many of these to spend, so he gets them spent wisely and saves any waste of them. Cramming If a student is continually bogged down and is not meeting his point targets, the supervisor does not spend valuable course time handling this fellow. Instead, the bogged student is worked with in a special cramming section of the course. In this section, the student’s difficulty is located and handled; then the student rejoins the class. Students The final and essential part of the study course is students. If the course conforms with the points of this essay with no quibbles, is tough, precisely scheduled, and run hard, it will be a full, expanding course and very successful. If it varies from this essay, it will stack up a bunch of bodies in the classroom, have dropouts and produce incompetent graduates. The final valuable product of this course is a student who knows how to study and will be able to use what he studies. PINK SHEETS Pink sheets are issued by a course supervisor or cramming officer (the administrator of the course section in which a student is given special instruction after being found slow in study or when failing his exams). A student is given a pink sheet when something earlier was missed that should have been learned. What a pink sheet is The pink sheet is done on legal size paper. In the column to the left is written the assignment to be done – essay, drill, demonstration, etc. In the next column is the place for the initials of the twin who coaches the student on the assignment. In the next column is the space for the twin’s initials after checking out the student. The last column on the right is larger than half the page, and is for observations on the BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM mistakes that are being made by the student. The assignment is based on these mistakes. The top of a typical pink sheet would look like this: ASSIGNMENT COACHING CHECKOUT MISTAKES OBSERVED The pink sheet is made up and given to the student, who does the assignment immediately and rapidly. But thoroughly. He is coached and then checked out. When both coaching and checkout columns have been signed off on the pink sheet, the sheet is returned to the supervisor, and the student returns to his checksheet. Principle of the pink sheet The principle of the pink sheet is that a student is responsible for all the material he has studied earlier on the course. If he is unable to apply any of this material, then the pink sheet is issued as a quick and precise remedy for the situation. Example Student is looking up a word in a dictionary. He misunderstands words in the definition. Supervisor issues a pink sheet to check out on the essay, “Dictionary Skill.” The student is coached on it, then checked out, and then returned to the dictionary. Every supervisor should have a good stock of pink sheets. Their use encourages fast and precise training. SUPERVISOR CHECKOUTS The only checkouts done by a course supervisor are those done on the materials dealing with the procedure and technology of checkouts. The course supervisor ensures his students are capable of very competent checkouts. He assigns twins for study. He checks the quality of their checkouts. If it is excellent, he lets them get on with it. If it requires correction, he checks them out on the checkout material that will correct the faults he finds. These checkout materials are the only ones he checks students out on personally. The supervisor must observe for violations of checkout materials. His communication with his students will bring such to view, whatever else it reveals and handles. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 35 BSM The supervisor walks around his class all the time. He checks where students are on their checksheets. He gives spot checks on the materials studied to date. Anything a student flunks on is also checked out on his twin. Pink sheets are given on flunked materials. Failures on checkout tech are pink sheeted. The remedy for improper checkouts by students is further study of checkout materials, not in the supervisor taking over checkouts of all course materials himself. The supervisor does all that is necessary to ensure that checkouts are competent, effective and strictly in accordance with essays on the subject. SUPERVISOR CORRECTIONS When there is nothing wrong and the students are going along well, the supervisor does not act to correct. For example, one sees a student busily checking out another and they are both doing fine. To interrupt or correct these two students would be a supervision error. Reversely, to see a student frowning or a coaching session bugged and not get in and straighten it out would be a supervision error. The supervisor assists a student when and as it is visible by points (student statistics) or expression or demeanor that the student needs assistance. To violate this gives one slower students. Interest A supervisor must show that he is interested in the progress of his students. This comes about by noting their advances and achievements or helping them over rough spots. Interest is vital. It does not include interruption. STUDY POINTS A point system is used so that students may measure accurately their progress through this course. The system itself is based on (1) how long a particular study action takes and ) the type of action it is. Thus, the practical is more heavily weighted than theory, since the purpose of study is application. All points must be earned. Points are gained only on checksheet items. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 36 BSM The point system assumes that the student knows and can apply all the data for which he has gotten points. Study Action Points Word in the text looked up and defined. (Includes misunderstood words in the definition.) 2 Zero-rate of one page of text 3 Star-rate received on one page of text. 5 Clay Demonstration. (Only credited if done precisely per essay, “Clay Table Training.” Demo must be of good large size and show what is being demonstrated.) 25 One essay written. 10 Each Training Routine passed. 75 Having successfully done a coaching, learning or knowing drill. 75 Practical or application type action. (Unless otherwise noted.) 75 Coaching successfully another student through a drill. (Includes Training Routines, learning drill, etc.) 75 Coaching theory materials (per page). 3 Coaching another student but failure to complete to a pass. 0 Checkout given (whether flunked or passed). Bonus for course completion. 50 STUDENT WEEKLY REPORTS All study course students are to make a weekly report, per this form. The school name is typed in on the top line before running off the forms. Supervisors should communicate with students to handle any trouble or difficulties noted by the student, handle any course difficulties, and fill in the bottom of the form. Do not make the student guilty for anything he writes. Handle effectively. STUDENT WEEKLY REPORT Student’s Name Date: BASIC STUDY MANUAL Grade level: Study course section: What I have learned: What I have observed: What I liked most: What I disliked most: How I like being on course: How I like doing the checksheet: How I like having the course data: Suggestions and comments: Points last week: Points this week: Total points on course: Full supervisor signature: BSM BASIC STUDY MANUAL 38 BSM 6. ESSAYS OH CLAY DEMOS “The purposes of clay demos are: to make the materials being studied real to the student by making him demonstrate them in clay; to give a proper balance of mass and significance; and, to teach the student to apply.” L.R.H. CLAY TABLE TRAINING PURPOSE: 1. To make the materials being studied real to the student by making him demonstrate them in clay. 2. To give a proper balance of mass and significance.. To teach the student to apply. Clay table steps The student is given a word or action or situation to demonstrate. He then does this in clay, labelling every part. The clay shows the thing. It is not just a blob of clay with a label on it. Use small strips of paper for labels. The whole demonstration then has a label of what it is. On the checkout, the student removes the overall label. The student must be silent. The supervisor, twin or cramming officer, acting as the examiner, must not ask any questions. The examiner just looks and figures out what it is. He then tells the student, who then shows the examiner the label. If the examiner did not see what it was, it is a flunk. Clay table must not be reduced to significance by long-winded labels of individual parts. The clay shows it, not the label. The clay demonstrates it. The student must learn the difference between mass and significance. Example The student has to demonstrate a pencil. He makes a thin roll of clay which is surrounded by another layer of clay – the thin roll sticking slightly out of one end. On the other end goes a small cylinder of clay. The roll is labeled “lead.” The cylinder is BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM labeled “eraser.” Then a label is made for the whole thing: “pencil.” On the checkout, the student removes “pencil” before the examiner can see it. If the examiner can look at it and say, “It’s a pencil,” the student passes. The purpose is application As has been noted, checkouts on study material require asking for demonstrations. For these, use paper clips, rubber bands, etc. The examiner should ask questions that require an ability to apply. Give the student a situation and have him tell you how he would handle it. Questions about what is rule A do not detect the glib student. Similarly, long winded explanations on a clay table put it back into significance, prevent the student from learning to apply, prevent the student from getting the proper balance of mass, and do not discharge confusion. All checkouts must keep in mind that the purpose is application, not just getting a check-sheet complete. If clay table training is not brightening the student up, then the above is not being done. Someone is in such a rush that real learning is being put aside for the sake of speed. The student has to USE his materials. Don’t let him fall flat by lousy demonstrations. A well done clay demonstration, which actually does demonstrate, will produce a marvellous change in that student. And he will retain the data. CUT DEMO SIZE One of the purposes of clay table training is to make what the student is demonstrating more real to him. Thus the size of the demo can be important. If the demo is too small (less mass), the reality of what is being demonstrated will drop. Also, the affinity for it will drop. Hence you get less understanding. (See definition of “understanding” in the glossary.) The demo should be rather large. One or two inches high for clay people is usually inadequate. The closer the demo is to the original thing being demonstrated, including size, the more understanding will be imparted to the student. CLAY TABLE CHECKOUTS A supervisor, twin, or cramming officer, when examining a student’s clay demonstration, always checks to see that the student’s understanding of the material being demonstrated is present. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 0 BSM If a student’s clay demonstration isn’t correctly done, or doesn’t show what is to be demonstrated, the clay table examiner must flunk it. The examiner must also state why it is a flunk with reference to the course material. A clay demo examiner must never refer to another student’s demo as an example of a correctly done demo, or make an example of a student’s incorrectly done demo to other students. Students’ demonstrations will each be unique in their own way of showing the data. The important thing is that the demo does show the data and the student understands it. A student’s clay demo is a personal creation by the student, and when properly done, is to be highly validated by the supervisor. A student’s clay demo is not something made for display to other students. All a clay demo examiner is interested in with any student is that the material of the course is duplicated by the student; that means full understanding of it. The clay demonstrations of each student will show it. CLAY DEMO ERRORS Students can make the error when doing clay demonstrations of not labelling every object they make with its correct significance label as they go along. The procedure should be: student makes one object, labels it; makes another object, labels it; makes a third object, and puts a label on it; and so on, in sequence. This comes from the data that optimum learning requires an equal balance of mass and significance, and that too much of one without the other can make the student feel bad. The correct procedure is to label each mass as you go along. And every separate mass must have a label. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 41 BSM . ESSAYS ON GRADIENTS “The degree of complexity is directly proportional to the degree of non-confront.” “Study is a string of confidences and competences, gained on a gradient” L.R.H. GRADIENTS A gradient is a slope or an incline. It is something that gets steeper and steeper. In study, we use the term “gradient” to mean the arrangement of the particulars of a subject in a sequence from the simple to the complex. TEACHING BY GRADIENT EXAMPLE Let’s say you want to teach somebody how to swim. The first action might be to have him look at the swimming pool. As you go along, the actions would get more and more complicated. You might have your student read a book on swimming. Then put his foot in the water. Then he might put in his foot and his leg. Then, the foot, leg and waist. If the person hangs up on one of the actions, you go back to the action just previous. For instance, he couldn’t get in up to his waist. You’d have him put his foot and leg in again until he felt very good about it. Then you’d try to get him up to his waist again. (You may even have to go all the way back to his foot and make sure that he is certain about that step.) Each step is certain You can make the mistake of failing to undercut the gradient in the very first step. In the example above, if the pupil had trouble with the first step of looking at the swimming pool, you might have had him go look at a full bathtub. The point is that the person must be certain about an action, or the next one will hang him up. If he has the slightest bit of confusion or uncertainty on one step, he will fall on his head on the next one. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM How to find a skipped gradient To find the skipped gradient, go to where the person is having trouble. Then go to the step just before that, where he thought he was doing well, and you will find some kind of confusion. You may even have to go one step before this one, and find earlier confusion. When you find the basic confusion or uncertainty, the student drills on it until he feels good about it and then proceeds with the next step. Every student can progress with certainty in his subjects when the data on gradients is applied. HOW STEEP A GRADIENT? There is somewhere a proper gradient, or “runway”, for a subject. It should not be so long that it needlessly multiplies opportunities for failure, nor so short that it takes a person up too steeply, so that he ends up in total confusion. Too long a runway The longer it takes to approach being educated in a subject, the more chances there are to “get caught on the runway.” The number of opportunities to fail are directly proportional to the length of the approach. An extreme example of this point in action would be: “Student’s must take three years of knitting before studying how to fly airplanes.” The useless prerequisite would destroy the technology. We’d produce far fewer pilots. Too brief a runway Taking the opposite approach – “do it now before you’ve learned about it” – could be equally disastrous. This route would be so short as to be too steep, making the student jump gradients and encouraging him to be confused and fail. A vivid example of this error would be the student at his first flying lesson being required to solo. We’d also produce far fewer pilots using this method! An education is simply seeing that something winds up in view and that it is approached by the process of getting familiar with it. At just the right rate of increase in understanding. At just the right gradient. CONFRONTING AND GRADIENTS The first requisite of any subject is the ability to confront the various components (things, parts, divisions) of the subject itself. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM All misunderstoods, confusions, omissions, and alterations of a subject begin with failure or unwillingness to confront. The difference between a good mechanic and a bad mechanic depends of course on consistent study and practice; but, underlying this, determining whether the person will study and practice, is the ability to confront the components of study and mechanics. A “quick study,” by which is meant a student who learns rapidly or a person who grasps a subject quickly, has a high ability to confront that subject. In a dramatic profession, the wild animal trainer who could confront wild animals remained alive. The one who couldn’t confront was too slow of perception to live long. In a more common line of work, the fast typist could confront study and typing in the first place and the slow typist couldn’t and can’t. The confusions about “talent” and “native ability” and such are resolved to no small degree when one recognizes the role played by the ability to confront. Basically, if one can just be there with it, he or she can then achieve the skill of communicating with whatever “it” is and handling it. Thus, before communicating with the components of a subject can properly begin, one must be able to be there comfortably with the components of the subject. All power depends upon the ability to hold a location. To communicate, one must be able to hold to a location. This is quite true in the physical universe. You can’t move a chair unless you can hold a position yourself near the chair. If you don’t believe it, try it. The ability to communicate-with precedes the ability to handle. Before one can communicate with something, one must be able to be in a location near it. The age old puzzle of how some scholars can get A+ on a subject they have studied and then not be able to apply even a scrap of the data is resolved by this fact of confronting. They can confront the book, the class and the thought, but they haven’t attained the ability to confront the physical objects of the subject. At least such glib students can confront the book, the paper and the thought. They are part-way there. Now all they need to do is confront as well the physical things to which the subject is applied, and they would be able to apply what they know. Some people are not so lucky as to be glib students. They have to work up to being there with the book, paper, classroom and teacher. Confronting is actually the ability to be there comfortably and perceive. Amazing reactions occur when conscious effort is made to do this. Dullness, perception trouble, fogginess, sleep and even pains, emotions, and twitches can oc- BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM cur when one knowingly sets out to be there with and comfortably perceive the various parts of a subject. Reactions discharge and vanish as one perseveres and at last, sometimes soon, sometimes after a long while, one can be there and perceive the component. As one is able to confront one part, he then finds it easier to confront other parts. People have mental tricks they use to get around actual confronting – to be disinterested, to realize it’s not important, to be sort of half-dead, etc. – but these eventually discharge and at Fast they can just be there and comfortably perceive. Eye blinks, swallows, twitches and aches are all means of interrupting confronting and are the symptoms of discomfort. There are many of these. If they are present, then one is not just being there and perceiving. Confronting on a via (using a relay point) is another method of ducking out of it. The worst off cannot even tolerate the idea of being there and perceiving anything. They run away, even go into fits, rather than be there and perceive. Such people’s lives are systems of interruptions and vias, all substitutes for confronting. They are not very successful. Success in life depends not on running away from it, but by being there and perceiving it, and then being able to communicate with it and handle it. Terms A gradient scale means a gradual increasing condition of, or a little more, or little-by-little. A skipped gradient means taking on a higher degree or amount before a lesser degree of it has been handled. One has to go back and handle the missed degree or thing, or else one will have just losses on a subject thereafter. Invalidation means a refuting or degrading or discrediting or denying something someone else considers to be a fact. Gradients Some of the things one would have to be able to be there with and perceive in order to study, placed on a graduated scale of increasing difficulty, are: • Beginning at all. • The classroom or work space. • Paper. • Books. • Writing materials. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM • Sounds. • A student. • A supervisor. • The area of the subject’s physical components. • The motionless equipment of the subject. • The moving equipment of the subject. • Masses connected to the subject. • The subject as a whole. The next stages would have to contain confronting while moving. This requires a consecutive being there and perceiving, even though one is occupying different locations. The next stages would be confronting selectively while moving, despite other things seeking to distract. Complexity and confront The fundamental and basic simplicities of confronting itself are the first things that must be grasped. All complexity surrounding any subject or action is derived from a greater or lesser inability to confront. The degree of complexity is directly proportional to the degree of nonconfront. The degree of simplicity is directly proportional to the degree of confront. CONFRONTING PAPER In reference to the gradient of study objects to confront, under the item, “paper,” the following procedure applies. The student would confront a page. It is propped up upside down so it can’t be read. The student sits in a chair and confronts it. It is not the significance of the page that the student is confronting; it is the page itself, the physical object. This is continued until the student is able to be there and comfortably perceive the upside down page. No blink, no swallow, no twitch. Once this is accomplished, the student moves to the next gradient per the list in the essay, “Confronting and Gradients.” BASIC STUDY MANUAL 46 BSM . ESSAYS ON COMMUNICATION THEORY “Communication can be defined as the interchange of ideas or objects between two people.” L.R.H. COMMUNICATION AND STUDY We communicate with books. We communicate with magazines, films, tapes, records, newspapers, and TV programmes. Teachers communicate. Students communicate. In class. On exams. In essays. In term papers. In life. Listening is a form of communication. So is reading, as well as speaking and writing. Studying is a form of communication. That is why we are now going to take up the subject of communication. COMMUNICATION FORMULA Communication can be defined as the interchange of ideas or objects between two people. Example A Example B From this we see that we need at least two people and at least one idea or object to be communicated between them. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 47 BSM Source point… idea or object… receipt point First of all, we have one person who starts the communication. We will call him the source-point. He causes the communication to start. In Example A, this is the person who makes the first statement by saying “hello” (in communicating an idea). In Example B, it is the person who throws the ball (in communicating an object). Next we have someone who receives the communication. We’ll call him the receipt-point. In example A, this is the one who listens to the statement (in communicating an idea). In Example B, it is the person who catches the ball (in communicating an object). So far we see that in order for there to be good communication there must be: 1. An idea or object to be communicated. 2. One person to cause (originate or begin) the communication. 3. One person to receive (accept, acquire possession of) the communication. Intention and attention In order for there to be good communication, the particle (idea or object) being communicated must get across the distance between the two people involved. In other words, the particle must go from the source-point, across a certain distance, and get to the receipt-point. There are two requirements necessary to transfer a particle across a distance from one point to another. They are: 1. Intention (determination or purpose).. Attention (interest or observance). If the source-point is going to get his idea across, he has to intend to reach the other person involved. If you want to say something to someone who is across the room, for example, it won’t work to whisper. You have to use some intention to get the other person’s attention, or interest. The cause-point also has to have some attention on the other fellow, to see if he is ready to be talked to. So we add attention along with intention as requirements for the cause-point of any communication. The receipt-point, in order to get a message, has to have his attention on the sender, so we add attention as a requirement for the receipt-point as well. Duplication with understanding There is one other factor that has to go on the side of the receipt-point for there to be good communication. This is duplication. Duplication is the making of something exactly like something else. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM There is the example of the message that the battle commander sent back to headquarters from the battle: “Send reinforcements – we are going to advance.” The message had to be passed by word-of-mouth from the front line. By the time it got to headquarters, it said: “Send three or four cents – we are going to dance”. What was the missing factor that made this an imperfect communication? Duplication with understanding. Each person getting the message didn’t copy exactly what was said. Communication breaks down because we didn’t get the person’s attention, or because our own intention to get our idea across wasn’t strong enough, and the idea was not duplicated. It was not received the way we meant it to be, and so misunderstanding arose. The person who starts a communication has been called a source-point. He can also be called cause. The person who receives a communication has been called receipt-point. He can also be called effect. So communication looks something like this: From this picture we get the formula for communication which is: Cause – Distance – Effect with Intention, Attention and Duplication with Understanding. Joe is cause and Bill is effect. There is distance between them. Joe puts his attention on Bill and gets Bill’s attention. Joe with intention gets his communication across to Bill who duplicates it with understanding. This is the way an idea goes across from one person to another. This is how we talk and how we listen. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM ACKNOWLEDGEMENT When two people are in good communication, the formula works as follows: Joe sends his idea across to Bill, Bill receives it. Bill then sends his reply or answer back to Joe who receives it. Joe then does what? He probably does nothing. There is a missing part here that is necessary to effective communication. The missing element ‘^acknowledgement. An acknowledgement is simply the way you let someone know that you have duplicated his answer. It could be a nod or a smile, a “thank you” or an “okay.” It lets a person know that you have received his communication, and that you understood him. The person who talks all the time is quite sure no one has heard him. He is still trying to get through. If there was someone around him who could acknowledge and let him know he had been listened to, he would feel much better. Also, people can get very tired of doing things for someone who never acknowledges what they have done. A little acknowledgement goes a long way. It is not a matter of praise, just a sign that you have noticed that something was done. You will see that people around you become more cheerful if you acknowledge their efforts and their communication. When you don’t acknowledge… If I ask you for the time and you reply, “It’s nine o’clock,” how do you know I got your reply if I don’t give you some acknowledgement? You wouldn’t really know whether or not you had been heard. Lack of acknowledgement is frequent, and is the cause of a lot of communication difficulties. You will see people who don’t talk at all. They have long since given up the idea that anyone has ever heard them, will listen to them, or wants to listen. Complete the cycle Good and effective communication usually ends with an acknowledgement. The complete communication cycle to the example given above would be: Joe: What time is it? Bill: It’s nine o’clock. Joe: Thank you. Other examples would be “I see that you’ve done the lawns,” “Thank you for ironing my shirt,” or to your child, “Thank you for going to bed on time.” We are only too ready to notice a mistake or pay attention to something not done, or complain about a question not answered. We should be just as ready to acknowledge things when they are done or answered. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 0 BSM COMMUNICATION AXIOM As we have seen, the formula for communication is: Cause – Distance – Effect with Intention, Attention and Duplication with Understanding. Now let us have a look at an actual axiom of communication: Communication is the consideration and action of impelling an impulse or particle from source – point across a distance to receipt – point, with the intention of bringing into being at the receipt – point a duplication with understanding of that which emanated from the source-point. DEMONSTRATING COMMUNICATION To increase understanding, demonstrate the axiom of communication using bits of wood, matches, paper clips, etc. Set up a source-point and a receipt-point with two of these, with some distance between them. Now take another object in your hand, and calling it the impulse, (idea) or particle (object of thought) add the intention to bring about a duplication with understanding, at the receipt-point, of the particle that emanated (came forth) from the sourcepoint. (Was it received the same as it was sent? Was it duplicated?) Repeat this demonstration until you are certain you understand the axiom of communication. TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION A communication cycle, by definition, does not need to be two-way. When a communication is returned, the formula is repeated, with the receipt-point now becoming a source-point, and the former source-point now becoming a receipt-point. (Do the practical demonstration with the wood, paper clips, etc., again, and then reverse it back the other direction.) So we see there is communication and two-way communication. You will see that communication occurs in cycles. A cycle is the sequence that an action goes through, wherein the action is started, is continued for as long as is required, and then is completed as planned. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 51 BSM 9. ESSAYS ON APPLIED COMMUNICATION “The whole idea is to be there.” L.R.H. INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED COMMUNICATION Now that we know something about what communication is, we’re going to look at how the communication formula applies to study and life, and how to use it. Component skills As we have learned in the previous chapter, live communication has several basic component skills: 1. Attention (confronting). 2. Intention. 3. Acknowledgement. 4. Duplication with understanding. The essays following will take up each component skill and discuss its part in live communication and its application to study. Training Routines There is a training routine, or drill, included in this chapter for each basic component skill of communication. Doing the drills will improve one’s ability to: 1. Confront (be attentive). 2. Intend. 3. Acknowledge.. Duplicate with understanding. The drills are done in the order given, as each succeeding drill includes skills mastered in earlier drills. The result from having done each of the training routines proficiently is an increased ability to communicate. This ability can be applied to speaking, listening, writing, reading, studying… and the countless other situations in life in which one communicates. ADMINISTRATION OF TRAINING ROUTINES The communication training routines, or drills, are practiced by twins. Twins are two students of comparable ability paired together by the course instructor. When doing the communication drills, one twin acts as the student, and the other acts as the coach. Then the roles are reversed. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM Study technology on: “What is a student,” “What is a coach,” and “Coaching,” as described in this manual, applies precisely in doing the training routines. THE VALUE OF ATTENTION AND CONFRONT The word confront means to stand face to face, to face up to, to bring into the presence of. Confront in speaking You have, probably many times, talked to someone whose interest or attention was “elsewhere.” It’s like talking to a wall, and is just about as rewarding! The blank glassy stare, dull eyes, vacant look, rapid shifting eyes – all these show a diminished ability to confront. Now remember those people you have conversed with who have seemed very much alive, who are interested, who have a ready, quick intelligence. They have a lot of energy, yet are relaxing to be with. When they look at you, they see you. You don’t get the feeling of being “looked through,” as though you weren’t there. These people have a high ability to confront. They are easy to talk to. They are interested in you. They can put their attention on something and maintain it without getting caught up in all sorts of idle thoughts. Their attention is outwards on the environment, not turned in on themselves and their problems. If a person cannot confront the person he is talking to, his communication will certainly be less effective than it could be. Handling problems Problems are best solved by a direct analysis of them. Occasionally, a fellow may think that if he doesn’t look at his problems, the problems will go away. A nice idea… but it doesn’t work. His problems pile up worse than ever. Improve a person’s ability to face up – to confront – and he will handle his life and his problems far better. Confronting groups A necessary part of public speaking is the ability to confront. Have you ever seen a speaker who would rather not be in front of a group? Shy, incoherent, lost for words, tense – we are looking at a person whose confront is low. Improved confront would help this person be more at ease, and thus collect his thoughts and get them over to his listeners. Better confronting means better control of situations. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM People who are responsible for others in any area of life – whether at work, in social activities, at school or in family life – require the ability to confront if they wish to have those they care for improve. Confront and study The student’s confront and attention have a great deal to do with the effectiveness of his study. Is he willing to be a student? Is he willing to face the subject? Can he confront his schedule, so that he attends class and has time for out-ofclass study? When in class, is he attentive to what’s going on… to what the instructor is saying… to what the instructor means… to what the instructor is communicating? Is the student willing to be a student out of class? Can he give attention to his reading… to his assignments… to his study? Can the student confront producing an experiment, term paper, or essay? Can he confront a deadline for homework due? As it sums up, is the student willing to be a student? His ability to confront is the make-or-break point. TRAINING ROUTINE 0 Name: CONFRONTING with Eyes Closed Commands: None. Position: Student and coach sit facing each other with eyes closed, a comfortable distance apart –about three feet. Purpose: To train student to be there comfortably and confront another person. The idea is to get the student able to be there comfortably in a position three feet in front of another person, to be there and not do anything else but BE there. Training Stress: Student and coach sit facing each other with eyes closed. There is no conversation. This is a silent drill. There is no twitching, moving, confronting with a body part, “system,” or vias used to confront or anything else added to being there. Be there comfortably and confront. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM When a student can be there comfortably, and confront, and has reached a major stable win, the drill is passed. Name: CONFRONTING. (TR 0) Commands: None. Position: Student and coach sit facing each other a comfortable distance apart – about three feet. Purpose: To train the student to confront. The whole idea is to get the student to be able to hold a position three feet in front of someone, to be there, and not do anything else but be there. Training Stress: Student and coach sit facing each other, neither making any conversation or effort to be interesting. They sit and look at each other, and say and do nothing for some time. The student must not speak, fidget, giggle, be embarrassed or dope off. It will be found that the student tends to confront With a body part, rather than just confront, or uses a system of confronting rather than just being there. The solution is just to confront and be there. Students have mental tricks they use to get around actual confronting – to be disinterested, to realize it’s not important, to be sort of half-dead, etc. – but these eventually discharge and at last the students can just be there and comfortably perceive. The drill is misnamed if confront means “to do something to the coach.” The whole action is to accustom the student to being there three feet in front of someone without apologizing or moving or being startled or defending self. The student passes when he can BE there and confront, and he has reached a major stable win. NAME: CONFRONTING BULL BAITED Commands: Coach: “Start” “That’s it” “Flunk” Position: Student and coach sit facing each other a comfortable distance apart – about three feet. Purpose: To train the student to confront. The whole idea is to get the student to be there comfortably in a position three feet in front of someone without being thrown off, distracted or reacting in any way to what the other person says or does. Training Stress: After the student has passed TR 0 and he can just be there comfortably, “bull baiting” can begin. Anything added to being there is sharply flunked by the coach. Twitches, blinks, sighs, fidgets, anything except just being there is promptly flunked, with the reason why. Patter: Student coughs. Coach. “Flunk! you coughed. Start.” This is the whole of the coach’s patter as a coach. Patter as a Confronted Subject: The coach should let his student have some successes, and then, by gradient stress, start in on the student to invite flunks, and then flunk him. This is bull baiting. The student flunks each time he or she reacts, no BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM matter how minutely, to being baited. The coach may say anything or do anything except leave the chair. Any words not coaching words may receive no response from the student. If the student responds, the coach is instantly a coach (see patter above). The student passes when he can BE there comfortably without being thrown off or distracted or react in any way to anything the coach says or does and has reached a major stable win. Note: The coach should not go into agreement with the student by laughing with him. The coach should be a coach and only use the patter given above. THE VALUE OF INTENTION The word intention means: application or direction of the mind. The word intend means: to have in mind as a purpose or plan; to direct. Intention in communication Feelings like “I could make a fool of myself” or “they might laugh at me” or “they wouldn’t be interested” cause a person to suppress his communication, hold it back, or make it muttered, unclear or hesitant. Some people slur their words, talk out of the side of their mouths, talk off to one side, address the empty air – anything rather than address the person with whom they wish to speak. Other people talk so softly or hesitantly that you have to strain to hear what they have to say. Some people use more effort or action in their communication than is necessary, such as bobs and gestures, facial expressions, waving of hands, raising eyebrows, etc. One should be able to express an idea and get it across without much effort. This is not to say one shouldn’t use movements when communicating; simply, one should be able to get ideas across without effort. When a communication is direct, with the intention that the listener will receive it and with enough volume (loud enough) for it to reach easily across a distance, that communication will be effective. When you say something, you should be heard and understood. Intention in study Given that a student is willing to confront his subject, he will be successful to the degree that he intends to learn. In a broad sense, his intention generates the application to which he will put his subject. He intends using the materials he studies. In the case of ideas, he in- BASIC STUDY MANUAL 56 BSM tends to use them to expand his, or others’, awareness. He can intend to apply ideas to change conditions in the world around him. In an immediate sense, the student intends to complete his course or courses to the best of his ability. He has in mind to use all the study aids available to him, and uses them. For example, he comes across a word he doesn’t understand. He stops reading, looks the word up, tests it in several sentences, demonstrates the mass that the word signifies. He does not stop until he understands the word. The student is in control of his study time; he allows no interruptions. He has in his study area all the materials he will need. He concentrates. His intention is to understand what he is studying, and be able to use it. The student’s results are as good as his intention. Intention is effortless. TRAINING ROUTINE 1 Name: DEAR ALICE. (TR 1) Purpose: To train the student to deliver a communication newly and in a new unit of time without flinching or trying to overwhelm or using a via. (In a new unit of time means that the statement or command is given newly – now – as if it was just thought of, not as though it had been said before, or blurred with past statements. Overwhelm means 1: to come, rest, or weigh upon overpoweringly; crush;: to overcome completely in mind or feeling. Via means some action or movement, expression or tone of voice used to get the communication across rather than just directly saying it, such as raised eyebrows, hand movements, etc.) Commands: A phrase (with the “He said” omitted) is picked out of the book, Alice in Wonderland, and read to the coach. It is repeated until the coach is satisfied it arrived where he is. Position: Student and coach are seated facing each other a comfortable distance apart. Training stress: The communication goes from the book to the student and, from the student as his own, to the coach. It must not go from book to coach. It must sound natural, not artificial. Diction and elocution have no part in it. Loudness may have. The coach must have received the phrase or question clearly and have understood it before he says ”Good.” Patter: The coach says “Start,” says ”Good” without a new start if the command is received or says “Flunk” if the command is not received. “Start” is not used again. “That’s it” is used to terminate for a discussion, or to end the activity. If session is terminated for a discussion, coach must say “Start” again before it resumes. The drill is passed only when the student can put across a communication naturally, without strain or artificiality or elocutionary bobs and gestures, and when the student can do it easily and relaxedly. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM THE VALUE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Regarding communication, the word acknowledgement means that which lets the person who has spoken know he has been heard and understood. Without acknowledgement A good way to see the value of an acknowledgement is to observe what happens when it is missing. You may recall someone becoming angry because no indication was given that something he or she said was heard and understood. Or there is the case of the person who got upset after giving a gift, not receiving a “Thank you” or even a smile as acknowledgement. A fellow writes a letter, and gets no reply or acknowledgement that the person he sent it to received it. He’s left in a bit of suspense – maybe it was received, maybe it wasn’t. Years later, let’s suppose the sender gets a letter acknowledging receipt. The sender may experience a feeling of relief. The communication cycle is completed. When a person does a job continually without acknowledgement he loses incentive and enthusiasm, feeling that it doesn’t matter if he does the job or not. An acknowledgement, such as a raise in pay, validates one’s ability. Children whose communications are not acknowledged become clamorous for attention. Parents wonder why a child seems frustrated. The parents could learn about and practice acknowledgements, listening and understanding what is said, and then acknowledging. Acknowledged children soon brighten up. People who have not had their communications acknowledged tend to give the same communication over and over until it is. A familiar example of this is the wife, calling from the kitchen to her husband watching TV, “Honey, dinner’s ready”. No answer. “Honey, dinner’s ready”. She walks to the TV room, annoyed, “Your dinner is ready”. “OK, I heard you the first time” he says, unpleasantly. The scene can be avoided if the husband acknowledges the wife the first time she calls to him – “Thank you”. “OK”. Anything to let her know her communication has been received. Confusion and order We have seen how communication is a cycle of cause – distance – effect. The source-point intends that receipt-point gets the communication. When the person sending the message doesn’t know whether or not it was received, that becomes a question for the sender, rather than a resolved communication cycle. The message tends to persist for the sender; he has some attention on it. These unended communication cycles pile up, and make life seem unduly complex. Acknowledgements will end communications cycles, and bring order into life. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 58 BSM Understanding Hearing what is said is not, in itself, sufficient to end a communication cycle. What was said must also be understood. Hearing and understanding must be indicated to complete the communication cycle. The acknowledgement says to the speaker, “I heard you. I understand what you said. That’s the end of that cycle of communication”. An acknowledgement does not have to “answer” the communication. It only lets the speaker know that what he said was received and understood and the cycle is completed. The answering or handling of the communication is a new cycle (as described in the essay on two-way communication). ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND STUDY Acknowledgement has a simple application to study: it enables one to end a study cycle of action. A cycle of action is the sequence that an action goes through, wherein the action is started, is continued for as long as is required, and then is completed as planned. An example of a study cycle of action would be “understanding the meaning of a word”. A student might start this cycle of action by finding a word in a passage being read that wasn’t understood. He would continue this cycle of action by looking up the word in a dictionary, reading the definition, demonstrating the word with a demo kit, using the word in some made-up sentences. This cycle is ended as the student understands the word, and acknowledges the cycle is complete. Or the example of a homework assignment. The student does what it takes to do the assignment, and acknowledges that it is complete. It is surprisingly helpful to the student to perceive his study as cycles of action, rather than “time to put in”. Completing study cycles of action, rather than “studying” for so many minutes or hours, enables one to accomplish a series of study goals. It’s more productive. By acknowledging these cycles as complete – as in the examples above of the misunderstood word and the homework assignment – one’s attention is free for new cycles. One can get more done. TRAINING ROUTINE 2 Name: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. (TR) Purpose: To teach the student that an acknowledgement is a method of controlling communication and that an acknowledgement is a full stop. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM Commands: The coach reads lines from Alice In Wonderland omitting “he said” and the student acknowledges them thoroughly. The coach repeats any line he feels was not truly acknowledged. Position: Student and coach are seated facing each other at a comfortable distance apart. Training stress: Teach student to acknowledge exactly what was said so the coach knows it was heard. Ask student from time to time what was said. Curb over and under acknowledgement. Let student do anything at first to get acknowledgement across, then even him out. Teach him that an acknowledgement is a stop, not a beginning of a new cycle of communication or an encouragement to the speaker to go on. To teach further that one can fail to get an acknowledgement across or can fail to stop a person with an acknowledgement or can take a person’s head off with an acknowledgement. Patter: The coach says “Start,” reads a line and says “Flunk” every time the coach feels there has been an improper acknowledgement. The coach repeats the same line each time the coach says “Flunk.” “That’s it” may be used to terminate for discussion or terminate the session. “Start” must be used to begin new coaching after a “That’s it.” Note: The acknowledgements used are “Thank you,” ”Fine,” “OK,” “Good” or “All right.” GETTING YOUR QUESTION ANSWERED You may have run into people who fail to answer your questions or fail to respond to what you say. These conversations begin with one topic and end with neither person knowing what they began talking about or why. Maybe you can remember asking a person – maybe a friend, employee, or child – to do something, and winding up with no response or the thing not done or something completely different done or wasted time in endless discussions that led nowhere Executives get tired and overloaded with work simply because their orders were not carried out and they failed to repeat them until they were done, regardless of any off beat responses. Have you ever noticed a person accept a totally irrelevant answer to his or her question, and end up still as confused as ever? Questions not answered, and things requested not done all eventually pile up and leave one confused, tired and not getting anywhere near what one set out to do. It all boils down to our failing to get our questions answered, or the things we requested done, or repeated and pursued until they were done. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 60 BSM Failure to pursue the matter, to get a question answered or to stick to the topic or matter being handled, is the source of much upset and difficulty. Not really getting an answer to a question leaves that cycle incomplete, with some attention left on it. Not completing one topic before going on to another is a common source of confusion and arguments in conversation. The answer to this is learning to complete the cycles begun, and to avoid taking up a new order, request, question or topic until the old one is answered or handled. Duplication and study We have already observed that one has a purpose in mind as one studies. The ability gained in the next training routine, Duplicative Question, enables the student to distinguish between purposeful material and irrelevant material. A basic example of this in practice is the student faced with an essay question for a homework assignment. He reads the question and understands it. He can know what data is necessary to answer that question. He finds that data in his materials or at the library, and answers the question cleanly and completely. TRAINING ROUTINE 3 Name: DUPLICATIVE QUESTION. (TR) Purpose: To teach a student to duplicate without variation a question, each time newly, in its own unit of time, not as a blur with other questions, and to acknowledge the answer. To teach that one never asks a second question until he has received an answer to the one asked. Commands: “Do fish swim?” or “Do birds fly?” Position: Student and coach seated a comfortable distance apart. Training stress: One question and student acknowledgement of its answer in one unit of time which is then finished. The student is kept from straying into variations of the question. Even though the same question is asked, it is asked as though it had never occurred to anyone before. The student must learn to give a command and receive an answer and to acknowledge it in one unit of time. The student is flunked if he or she fails to repeat the exact question asked, if he or she Q-and-A’s with excursions taken by the coach. (Q-and-A: (noun) a failure to complete a cycle of action; (verb) to fail to complete a cycle of action; to deviate from an intended course of action.) Patter: The coach uses “start” and “that’s it” as in earlier Training Routines. The coach is not bound after starting to answer the student’s question but may give a “commenting” type answer or “comm lag” to throw the student off. (Comm lag is short for communication lag. A comm lag is the time it takes a person to give an answer to BASIC STUDY MANUAL 61 BSM a question that has been asked, regardless of whether he or she is silent until he or she gives the answer, or has been talking in the interim.) Often the coach should answer. Somewhat less often the coach attempts to distract the student into a Q-and-A or confuse the student. Example: Student: Do fish swim? Coach: Yes. Student: Good. Do fish swim? Coach: Aren’t you hungry? Student: Yes. Coach: Flunk. When the question is not answered, the student must say gently, “I’ll repeat the question,” and do so until he gets an answer. Anything except question, acknowledgement, and, as needed, the repeat statement, is flunked. A poor acknowledgement is flunked. A Q-and-A (as in example) is flunked. Student confusion is flunked. Lack of an acknowledgement (or with a distinct comm lag) is flunked. Any words from the coach except an answer to the question, “Start,” “Flunk,” “Good,” or “That’s it” should have no influence on the student except to get him to give a repeat statement and the command again. By repeat statement is meant “I’ll repeat the question.” “Start,” “Flunk,” “Good,” and “That’s it” may not be used to fluster or trap the student. Any other statement under the sun may be. The coach may try to leave his chair in this training routine. If he succeeds, it is a flunk. Coach divertive statements should all concern the student, and should be designed to throw the student off and cause the student to lose session control or track of what the student is doing. The student’s job is to keep the session going in spite of anything, using only command, the repeat statement, or the acknowledgement. If the student does anything else than the above, it is a flunk and the coach must say so. 0. ESSAYS ON LEARNING “Does it agree with what you think?” “Thinking is not particularly hard to learn. It consists merely of comparing a particular datum with the physical universe as it is known and observed.” L.R.H. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 62 BSM THE LEARNING DRILL Learning is not the same as study. A person could do a whole course and get good marks and not learn anything. He might pass every exam, yet not have learned the data so that it can be applied. The following drill is used to improve the ability to study and increase the learning rate. The drill is not designed for use on study or course materials. Particulars of the Learning Drill Position: Student and coach sit facing each other across a table. Purpose: To develop judgment by understanding and duplication. Training stress: 1. The first step is duplication. The coach takes a sentence or phrase from Alice in Wonderland. The line used is unimportant. The coach reads it to the student. The student then repeats the line exactly as the coach read it. Coach merely tries to get the student to repeat a line of sounds. You don’t need to call them words. It is not rote memory. It is duplication. The coach repeats the line each time the student flubs until the student has duplicated it exactly. 2. The second step is understanding. After the student has correctly duplicated what the coach read, coach asks, “Give me an example of that.” Student gives example or examples until both are satisfied. Coach then asks, “How do you feel about that?” and if OK, they continue to the next line. If the student has any uncertainties with examples, the coach goes back to step and starts the drill from the beginning, using the same line. If the student still has trouble with examples, coach would ask, “Are there any misunderstoods on this line?” and any found are cleared up. A dictionary should be used. Remedy: If the student continues to have trouble with examples, the coach should say, “Give me an example of how the datum isn’t that way,” and student gives examples until both are satisfied; then, “Give me an example of how it is,” until both are satisfied. Always end off with how it is. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM Results The student should feel good about the datum after duplication and understanding, and should start having realizations as he is further drilled. Eventually, using the two basic steps, the student will learn judgment. The drill should be coached on a gradient. It should be ended on a good success. The student should look good. The end result on each student is the ability to rapidly and accurately learn data. ADVICE Science is knowledge of facts and laws arranged in an orderly system. The student is advised to find out for himself whether or not the mechanics of a science are as stated, and whether or not it does what has been proposed for it. The student should make up his own mind as to the validity of each thing he is taught – theory, mechanics, procedure, techniques. He or she should question the data he is presented with. Does it exist? Is it true? Does it work? Will it produce the best possible results in the shortest time? SCIENCE The reason engineering and physics have reached out so far in advance of other sciences is that they pose problems which punish man violently if he doesn’t look carefully into the physical universe. Engineering An engineer is faced with the problem of drilling a tunnel through a mountain for a railroad. Tracks are laid up to the mountain on either side. If he judges the space wrongly, the two tunnel entrances would fail to meet on the same level in the centre. It would be so evident to one and all concerned that the engineer made a mistake, that he takes great care not to make such a mistake. The engineer observes the physical universe, not only to the extent that the tunnel must meet to a fraction of an inch, but also that, if he were to misjudge wrongly the character of the rock through which he drills, the tunnel would cave in – an incident which would be considered a very unfortunate occurrence to railroading. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM Biology Biology comes closer to being a science than some others because, in the field of biology, if someone makes too big a mistake about a bug, the result can be dramatic and terrifying. Suppose a biologist is charged with the responsibility of injecting plankton into a water reservoir. Plankton are microscopic “germs” that can be very useful to man. But if through some mistake, the biologist injects typhoid germs into the water supply – there would be an immediate and tragic result. Suppose a biologist is presented with the task of producing a culture of yeast which would, when placed in white bread dough, stain the bread brown. This man is up against the necessity of creating a yeast which not only behaves as yeast, but makes a dye as well. He has to deal with the practical aspect of the problem, because after he announces his success, there is the “yeast test”: Is the bread edible? And the “brown bread test”: Is the bread brown? Anyone could easily make these tests, and everyone would know very quickly whether or not the biologist had succeeded or failed. Politics Politics is called a science. There are natural laws about politics. They could be worked out if someone were to actually apply a scientific basis to political research. LEARNING IMPORTANCES Students have to be relaxed about the body of data they are learning before the importance of some data over others shows up. “Importance” hang-ups A person can be hung up on the “all-importance” and “everything-ness” of a subject. He is so nervous of dire consequences that he will eventually have an accident. People are often thoroughly educated into this attitude. “It is all so important it will kill him if he doesn’t know.” This inhibits his power of choice and ability to evaluate data. Education today is often taught by consequence, not by the fact that it is a sensible thing to do. In the world, “importance” likely means punishment. Selecting unimportances To teach someone a subject, just have him select out the unimportances of the subject. He will start to think everything is important, but coax him on with understanding and good control, and he will eventually come up with something unimportant. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM For example, you are teaching him how to drive a tractor. He will find the coat of paint on the crank unimportant. You acknowledge, and ask him to find something else unimportant. Keep at this, repeating it and repeating it, and eventually “all-ness” will start to disintegrate. He will select down to the most important controls of the tractor, and the next thing you know, he can drive a tractor! He won’t have a craving to know anxiously, and won’t be nervous at all. You are teaching by devaluation of importances. Interesting fact It is interesting that a person who never selected out the importances of a subject, and believes every datum must be memorized, has, you will find, a history of being punished within an inch of his life. There is a direct coordination here. Education is basically fixing data, unfixing data and changing existing data, either by making it more fixed or less fixed. This technology using importances can undo to a marked extent a very thorough “education” in some subject and return it to the power of choice of an individual. DRILLS FOR KNOWING This method is fantastically simple, with very successful results in raising ability in learning, accepting and knowing data. The first step is given in the first example, and is the first gradient. First example COACH: I am going to say three numbers. One, two, three. What did I say? STUDENT: One, two, three. COACH: Good. Do you remember what I said? Do you remember what you said? (Used alternatively.) STUDENT: One, two, three. COACH: Good. This is done using variations of the three numbers, checking how the student is doing every now and then until the student is comfortable and relaxed without any tension, and he can recall without difficulty what you said and what he said. Check before going on if he can remember the first set of numbers you gave him. Then we go up one gradient and have the student reject or accept data at will, in the second example. Second example COACH: All chairs are purple. What did I say? STUDENT: All chairs are purple. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM COACH: Okay, both of us said all chairs are purple? STUDENT: Yes. COACH: Are they? STUDENT: No. COACH: All right, you could disbelieve something I said and throw it out, couldn’t you? STUDENT: Yes. This step is done using examples of non-significant data which are totally incorrect. When the student has regained his power of choice, we go on to the third step, that of teaching and getting across the actual datum you want to teach him. Third example COACH: The coach should always agree with the student. What did f say? STUDENT: The coach should always agree with the student. COACH: Is this true? STUDENT: Well, I don’t know. COACH: All right, now give me a graphic example of that using these two items. (Points to glass and milk bottle.) STUDENT: The glass as the student says, “I’ve had enough. I’m cutting the rest of this class.” The milk bottle as the teacher must always agree, so he says, “Okay, that’s a good idea.” COACH: It’s not very workable, is it? All right, modify it. STUDENT: The coach should always understand the student. COACH: The coach should always understand the student. STUDENT: Good. COACH: Thank you. End of session. Conclusions So in this way, you can teach a person a datum without duress. Let him think about it and argue it out to get him into agreement. There is no rote set of commands. The method consists of communication based on the format above and getting the student to demonstrate with objects in the room. This way he will know a datum; not just a collection of words. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM AUTHORITY AND AGREEMENT There are two ways in which Man often accepts information as truth, neither of them very good. One of these ways is to accept a statement as truth because an “authority” says it is true and must be accepted. The other way is by preponderance of agreement amongst other people. A study in “Authority” A Greek by the name of Galen at one time dominated the field of medicine. He upheld the “tides of the blood” theory, as did his contemporaries, knowing nothing about heart action. Centuries later another man by the name of Harvey, working at the British Royal Medical Academy, found, by animal vivisection, the actual function of the heart. Harvey made his announcement, and upset Galen’s time-honored position with the new theory of blood circulation… and dead cats, rotten fruit and pieces of wine jugs were hurled in his direction! Harvey raised such a commotion in medical and social circles that, in desperation, one doctor made the historic statement, “I would rather err with Galen than be right with Harvey!” Man would have made an advance of exactly zero if “Galen-said-so-so-itmust-be-true” had been the only method of testing evidence. And, every so often, there have been rebels who were not satisfied with the decree of “Authority.” These men have tested facts for themselves; observed, accepted the data of their observations; and tested again. These are the men who have provided us with progress. Popular opinion equals “truth” Possibly the first man who made a flint axe looked over a piece of flint and decided that the irregular stone could be chipped in a certain way. When he found that flint would chip easily, he might have rushed to his tribe and enthusiastically tried to teach his fellow tribesmen how to make axes in the shape they desired, instead of spending months searching for accidental pieces of stone of just the right shape. The chances are, he was stoned out of camp. Indulging in a further flight of fancy, it is not difficult to imagine that he finally managed to convince another fellow that his technique worked, and that the two of them tied down a third with a piece of vine and forced him to watch them chip a flint axe from a rough stone. Finally, after convincing fifteen or twenty tribesmen by forceful demonstration, the followers of the new technique declared war on the rest of the tribe and, winning, forced the tribe to agree by decree! BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM DATA EVALUATION You might say that a datum is as valuable as it has been evaluated. And a datum cannot be evaluated until it is compared with the objects to which it applies. For example, the datum, “A student will become sluggish when he goes by a word he does not understand” has been of value to you to the extent that you observed what happened when you actually did go past words you didn’t understand. A person who couldn’t read would find difficulty in evaluating this datum. It would also be of little value to him. Data is your data only so long as you have evaluated it. Test it for yourself and convince yourself whether or not it exists as truth. And if you find that it does exist, you will be comfortable thereafter; otherwise you are likely to find (previously unrecognized) down at the bottom of your information and education, an unresolved question which will undermine your ability to assimilate or practice anything in the line of a technique. Your mind will not be as facile on the subject as it should be. FUNDAMENTALS When a man tries to erect the plans of a lifetime or a profession on data which he, himself, has never evaluated, he cannot possibly succeed. Fundamentals are very, very important, but first of all one must learn how to think, in order to be absolutely sure of a fundamental. Thinking is not particularly hard to learn. It consists merely of comparing a particular datum with the physical universe as it is known and observed. Authoritarianism Authoritarianism gives you learning which is forced, using the threat of some form of punishment. A student is stuffed with data which have not been individually evaluated, just as a taxidermist would stuff a snake. Such a student will be well informed, but, unfortunately, he will not be very successful in his chosen profession. Do not make the mistake of criticizing something on the basis of whether or not it concurs with the opinions of someone else. The point which is pertinent is whether or not it concurs with your opinion. Does it agree with what you think? Study a subject for itself and use it exactly as stated. Then form your own opinions. Study it with the purpose in mind of arriving at your own conclusions as to whether or not the tenets you have assimilated are correct and workable. Compare what you have learned with the known universe. Seek for the reasons behind a manifestation, and postulate the manner and in which direction the manifestation will likely proceed. Do not allow the authority of any BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM one person or school of thought to create a foregone conclusion within your sphere of knowledge. Only with these principles in mind can you become a truly educated individual. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 0 BSM GLOSSARY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: A communication that says “I have noticed you.” I have received your communication and understand it. An acknowledgement ends your communication cycle. AFFINITY: Degree of liking or affection or lack of it. APPLY: To put something to use to achieve a desired result. APTITUDE: Degree of ability to do something. ATTENTION: A person’s power to notice or observe. AXIOM: A self-evident truth or proposition; a proposition whose truth is so evident at first sight that no process of reasoning or demonstration can make it plainer. BASIC: Underlying or supporting, causing or permitting other things to be true or exist or maintain their position. BRIGHT: Intelligent or quick to understand. When used in quotes, it refers to someone who appears to be bright but is, in fact, just glib. BUGGED (slang): Not working or operating properly, containing something wrong or out of order. BULL-BAITING: An action of the coach in TR 0. (Training routine zero) on this course; trying by words or actions to get the student to react to the coach rather than just be there. The purpose of Bull – Baiting is to increase the student’s ability to face things comfortably and see them as they are. In some countries there is a game called bull-baiting where one tries to get the bull to become angry and charge by teasing him or pretending to attack. CHECKOUT: A short examination, done according to an exact procedure given in this course, to see if a student understands and can apply what he has been studying. CHECKSHEET: A form listing every book, tape, lecture, drill, demonstration, or other study material that a student needs to master in order to acquire a particular skill, arranged in the best order of study. The checksheet is done in order. Next to each item is a place for the student’s initials (or the person giving him a checkout, where required) to attest that he understands the item and can apply it. CIRCUIT: A part of an individual’s mind that behaves as though it were someone or something separate from him; that goes into action of its own accord; and that may even, if severe enough, take control of him while it operates. (A tune that keeps going around in someone’s head is an example of a circuit.) CLAY DEMO: Short for “clay demonstration.” A demonstration with modelling clay and paper labels, according to an exact procedure given in this course. Clay demos help the student get involved with what he is studying and help him see how things can be used. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 71 BSM CLAY TABLE: Another name for “clay demo.” In some classrooms one table is reserved for clay work. COACH: To help a person learn something by asking him questions, guiding him through difficulties, etc., following the exact procedure given in this course. The one who is doing the coaching part of one of the drills on this course. COMM LAG: Short for communication lag. See below. COMMUNICATION: An interchange of objects or ideas between two people. COMMUNICATION CYCLE: The sequence of events that makes up communication: having attention on the person who is to receive the communication, having his attention, sending the communication across with the intention that it will be received exactly as it was sent, having it received exactly as it was sent, and getting a communication back from the receiver saying so (an acknowledgement). “Communication Cycle” also means one occurrence of this sequence. COMMUNICATION LAG: The amount of time that passes between hearing a question and giving the answer, whether one is talking or silent during this time. COMPETENCE: Ability to do something well, to create a product (such as an object or service) of high quality. COMPONENT: One of the parts that make up something. CONFRONT: To face something directly and easily, seeing it as it is, without straining, resisting or trying to withdraw. CONTROL: The ability to start, change, and stop things at ones own choice. COURSE: An organized plan of study actions leading to the gain of a particular skill. COURSE SUPERVISOR: The person who is in charge of a course, who sees that each student acquires the study material for his own. A course supervisor does not have the job of giving the students ideas or “teaching” them. He is there to make sure that the students are not prevented from learning for themselves. CRAMMING: The section of this course to which a student is sent when he has had continual difficulty studying or has flunked an exam. Whatever is in the way of his progress is found and handled. CRAMMING OFFICER: The special course supervisor in charge of cramming. CYCLE: 1. A regular sequence of events that recurs in the same order. 2. A single occurrence of such a sequence. 3. A cycle of action.. A communication cycle. CYCLE OF ACTION: The sequence of stages that any action goes through in which it is begun, carried through, and completed as planned. DATA: Plural of datum. DATUM: Something known or assumed; a fact from which conclusions can be drawn. DEMO KIT: Short for demonstration kit. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM DEMONSTRATE: To show how something works or fits together or is done, using the thing itself or a model or symbols. A demonstration is more than just explaining; it has a balance of talk and action. DEMONSTRATION KIT: Also called demo kit. A collection of odds and ends such as corks, rubber bands, or bottle caps used by the student to demonstrate things he is studying. DOINGNESS: The work, action, or operation of something. DOPE-OFF (slang): Feeling drowsy or even falling asleep while stuck in the mental blankness that follows going past words or symbols not fully understood. DRILL: An exercise designed to develop skill through repeated practice and coaching. To do such an exercise. DUPLICATE: To receive a communication exactly as it was intended by the sender. ESSAY: A short piece of writing analyzing a single subject from the writer’s own point of view. EVALUATE: To give a value to something, or to determine what value, worth or degree of truth something has. EXAM: Short for examination. EXAMINATION: An act of examining, particularly one that is part of a course. EXAMINE: To inspect something in detail. Observe carefully. Also to do this in order to see if something meets a standard. When we “examine a student” we are inspecting his knowledge, how well he understands what he has learned, and his ability to apply it. EXAMPLE: A member of a group chosen as representative of the whole. A situation or incident that shows the working of a rule or idea. FLUNK (slang): To produce less than the standard of a test or an examination. Something that is not good enough for the purpose at hand. As a coach, to tell the student he has flunked. FORMULA: A statement of a pattern or procedure in a general form, which can be used to show what to do in any specific instance to produce a desired result. For example, a recipe for fried chicken, what to say when you meet a king, or the way to tell how strong a magnet is. FUNDAMENTAL: Having to do with or close to the origin or point of establishment. A part which is important because it supports or gives existence or character to the whole. GLIB: Able to receive data or answers without any personal involvement or ability to use them. GLOSSARY: A list of terms that have been used in a text, giving definitions. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM GRADIENT: A gradual, step-by-step approach to understand or acquire a skill, in which each step is a little bit harder than the one before but still easy to do if one has done all the previous steps. Also, one of the steps. See skipped gradient. GRADIENT SCALE: The series of steps used to present something on a gradient. INDICATOR: An observable sign or event that shows that something is present or about to happen. INFORMATION: Data received through communication; knowledge derived from reading or instruction, or gathered in any way. INTENTION: Direction or application of ones mind toward bringing about a desired result. INVALIDATE: To attack the truth, value, ability or existence of something or someone. For example, saying to a person who is trying to learn how to drive, “You’ll never be able to handle a car.” KNOWLEDGE: Data or skills that one possesses with certainty; also certainty itself, or awareness. Sometimes all the data or techniques concerning something that have been found to be true or workable. LEARN: To acquire data, skill or understanding in some particular subject. LEARNING DRILL: A drill on this course that increases the student’s ability to learn. LESSON: Something that has been learned, or is to be learned. Also, a period of study. LITERATE: Able to understand words in their written forms and to transfer spoken words into written form. MAGNITUDE: How big something is, either in terms of physical size or how much it can influence. MANUAL: A book of instructions on how to do something. MASS: The physical bulk of something; how solid it is combined with how much space it takes up. MATERIAL: That which is being studied or worked with. MISUNDERSTOOD (slang): Something that is incorrectly understood; a word or symbol whose meaning one has not fully grasped. NOMENCLATURE: The terms and definitions used in a subject. OBSERVE: To become aware of, through the senses. To direct the senses toward something so as to become aware of it. OVERWHELM: To give a person the feeling that there are more things going on than he can possibly handle. To send a communication with too much force, so that the person receiving it feels crushed. PARTICLE: A small part or portion of matter. BASIC STUDY MANUAL BSM PASS: To complete an examined study action, such as a drill or a checkout, having met the standard one’s performance is being measured against. As a coach, to see that a student has met the standard against which you are examining him, and tell him so. PHENOMENA: Plural of phenomenon. PHENOMENON: A fact or event that can be observed either in the external world or in the human mind. PINK SHEET: A re-study assignment given by the supervisor to a student on this course, at any time that the student is seen not to understand or be able to apply something he should have learned earlier in the course. Written on pink paper. POINT: A unit measuring student progress. See study points. PRACTICAL: Having to do with practice or action, rather than theory. PREREQUISITE: Something required before something else can be started or done. PRINCIPLE: A fundamental truth, law etc., upon which others are based. PROCEDURE: The actions one takes, and in what order, to produce a desired result. Q-and-A: A failure to complete a cycle of action (noun). To fail to complete a cycle of action (verb). (From “questioning a person’s answer”, which is often a case of beginning a second action before the first one has been completed). QUICK STUDY: A student who learns rapidly or a person who grasps a subject quickly. RATIONALIZATION: The invention or devising of self-satisfying but incorrect reasons for (one’s behaviour). RECEIPT-POINT: The person who receives a communication. Also, the place where it is received. RESTUDY: To go back and study something again, such as when one had thought or said he had learned it but flunked a checkout or was found to be unable to use it. SCHOLASTICS: Of schools, colleges, students, teachers, etc., academics. SCIENCE: A way of gaining knowledge, particularly the reasons why things happen or the patterns that they follow, by using careful observation and testing one’s ideas to see how well they match or predict what can be observed. An activity using this approach Knowledge of some subject gained in this way. SELF-COACHING: A student’s correcting himself during any study action while someone else is being the coach. This is always a flunk. Whenever a study action on this course calls for a student and a coach, h is the student’s job to do the study action. It is the coach’s job to worry about how well it is being done. SIGNIFICANCE: What something is considered to mean or any thoughts or ideas. SKILL: Ability, gained by practice and familiarity, to produce desired results with accuracy, certainty, and a minimum of effort. BASIC STUDY MANUAL 75 BSM SKIPPED GRADIENT: A level of competence or understanding ignored or not worked on enough so that one is confused or incompetent later. For example, never learning to play “catch” and then being unable to learn to play baseball. SOURCE POINT: The person who starts or sends a communication. Also, the place it was sent from. SPOT – CHECK: 1. A checkout given by a student to his twin in which he examines the twin on selected words and data. It is called a spot-check in that the student does not attempt to cover all the materials. 2. The action whereby a supervisor checks a student’s understanding of words and data covered in materials already attested to on the student’s checksheet. STANDARD: A particular level or degree of quality that is proper and adequate for a specific purpose. STAR-RATE: To study something thoroughly enough to be able to pass a star-rate checkout. To give a star-rate checkout. STAR-RATE CHECKOUT: A short examination, following an exact procedure given in this course, that tests a student to see if he has00% understanding and ability to apply a portion of his course materials. STUDENT: One who observes carefully and in detail in order to gain knowledge and then use it to produce a specific result. Also, the one who is being the student in a drill or coaching session on this course. STUDENT WEEKLY REPORT: A form filled out once a week by each student on this course showing what progress he is making, where he is doing well, where he is having trouble if any, and any comments he may have. STUDY: Observation of something, involvement with it, increasing familiarity with it, practice doing it or using it to achieve results, by one who is a student. STUDY POINTS: Units showing progress on this course. Each study action is worth a certain number of points when done or passed, depending on how much can be learned from it. If the student keeps track of his daily and weekly points, he will be able to see how well he is doing. SUBJECT: A thing being talked about. What one is studying or coaching or examining or being checked out on. Also, all the data and methods that have been developed regarding some area of existence or awareness. SUPERVISOR: One whose job it is to observe an activity and make sure it is going well. The supervisor in charge of this course or one of his assistants. TECH: Short for technology. TECHNIQUE: A way of directing one’s attention and effort to achieve a desired result. TECHNOLOGY: A detailed, step-by-step organization of data and techniques that enables people to produce desired results over a broad area. TEXT: Written study material. An item of written study material. BASIC STUDY MANUAL