L. Ron Hubbard

My hero is philosopher and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. He is my hero for many reasons. I am going to tell you about one of these reasons. It concerns the subject of study, learning and education.

When I went to school, many many years ago, I was never told how I should study. I was told everything about how to go to school, how to behave, and how to wear my uniform. I was made aware of the fact that three times a year I would have to undergo examinations to determine how well I had learned. Aside from my first year at high school where my examination scores landed me near the bottom of my form (class), I subsequently went on to be among the top 5 of my form and even I made it to the top of my form. I was inspired by competition. How did I do it? Well, it mostly had to do with memory, and to some degree I might have been considered to be naturally bright. However, I also saw so many of my fellow classmates struggle. Their examination results were not so good. I concluded that they just weren’t as smart as myself, for some unknown reason. I have a feeling that these classmates also tried to memorize many things but just weren’t as good as it as I was. For many students who were struggling, school was not a fun place to be, and if they had their way, many would have just dropped out, but the system prevented that from happening.  

All of this happened in Australia where I grew up.

Later, I found myself in England, doing exams to determine where I would fit into their educational system, and to my dismay I scored badly on many of the tests. Over a period of six months, I had forgotten so much of what I had "learned."  

Does learning mean that you can remember a lot of facts, and when asked questions about them, can throw them back? Or is learning something else? When you make it to the workplace, you begin realizing you are not only expected to know something, but you are expected to produce results. You are expected to DO something. For some, the same approach of "memorizing" what to do is how they handle the workplace. However, those same individuals seem to be incapable of easily adapting to change or, when something goes wrong, have no idea of what to do to handle it. These individuals need directions and monitoring. Ultimately, unable to keep up with the change around them, they find themselves unemployed with little hope for the future.

Many students, now employees, are relieved that they made it through their “education” with a diploma in hand, glad to be out of the system. Many even think that learning is “tough” and decide they want no more of it.

And, there are those students who move into the workplace or strike out on their own and become incredibly successful...  who continue to ‘learn’ and make it in life.

And, there are some of those students who go on to become criminals.

How did education or the failure of education create the above outcomes?

Why do some learn and others not? Is it all about luck or genes, or are there some laws or principles at work determining the success or failure of learning?

This was something that L.Ron Hubbard wanted to know more about.

What he did was research the subject of “study” and education. He came to know much about it and basically discovered three main barriers to study. For Hubbard, the subject of study had to with learning and understanding so that a person could APPLY what they had learned. The ability to apply knowledge has to do with understanding that knowledge. These three barriers get in the way of understanding. Not only did he discover the barriers, he identified what had to be done to overcome the barrier so that understanding could be achieved. These actions could be called the 'tools of study'.

I use these tools myself on a daily basis and am so grateful that I have them and can use them.

It allows me to learn every day and to remain alert and bright. I have seen so many positive results in others who have been taught these tools, who were then thereafter able to learn. This includes young children given up on by the educational system and deemed hopeless, stupid and learning disabled.

The fact is that learning does not stop when leaving school. Learning is something one should be doing for all the days of their life. Knowing the tools of study is fundamental to life and happiness, and I consider this to be a extremely valuable contribution that L. Ron Hubbard has made to mankind.

I would dare say that a fundamental human right is knowing how to LEARN, so as to be able to UNDERSTAND and APPLY. This is something that one has to be able to do no matter what, and it opens the door to truly living and understanding life.