Eminent Educationalist Dr. J. Patter-son believes:

“That all learners are born with some unique gift and talent and, therefore, tend to focus their efforts on liberating and transforming the ‘at-promise’ nature of all human beings. Fortunately, I am joined by all of those associated with the International Gifted Education Teacher – Development – Network (IGET-Network) in this belief”.

The question remains on how to prepare children for learning and to unleash this talent.

We know that if a child spends the bulk of their day in a sedentary position requiring very little movement then that child will become psychically weak, uncoordinated, and many of their internal organs will also be in poor health.

Fortunately, this condition can be rectified by exercise.

Further, if a young child is infused with the belief that he/she can be great as an athlete, if he/she trains with grit and determination that is in accordance with that belief, then that person will develop into an elite athlete.

The logic of this would be almost universally apparent and would not offend anyone’s belief systems.

The same applies to the brain. Neglected, or pampered by indulging it with continuous activities that require little or no mental stimulation, then the power of the brain to function at a high intellectual creative level, wanes.

The remedy to this neglect involves changing the child’s belief mechanism to one where they recognise that they have the potential to be a genius, and giving them the right exercises and encouragement to feed that belief.

There are some people who embrace the idea that a person is born with an IQ that will limit their ability to achieve on an intellectual level and others, who like myself, accept the principle that a person’s intellectual capacity can change with correct stimulation and a self-belief structure. Both sides of this thesis are well supported but latest research tends to favour the concept of nurturing over IQ.

All children are born with an innate ability to learn, today this ability is more important than ever.

Schools are learning institutions, but with the rapid changes in technology learning is now a lifetime activity and the ability to learn is often determined by the early preparation in the home.

‘Your Education’ is moving online to the Weekender website from June 15.

See: Western Weekender (Page 64)