Dark humour- Humour around subjects which are generally of pain, or discomfort. Unfortunately, a lot of us have failed to draw the line between dark and disrespect. Misogynist, assault, and harassing jokes are not comedic gold because they’re dark but outright disrespectful. This kind of humour is different from other forms of dark humour. When historical events of genocide etc. are joked about, it is comparatively less discomforting given that people do not fear such a scenario on a day to day basis, in contrast to the jokes in question.
You might feel like these jokes don’t harm anyone, but they do for various reasons, even though you may not see it. I came across this line in a paper addressing this kind of humour given that multiple contexts of its usage exist that made a lot of sense- “There is a monumental difference between laughing at the act of sexual assault—which encourages an apathetic attitude toward rape and even perpetuates sexual violence—and satirising the things that perpetuate it, such as sexism or our rape culture. In other words, we should ridicule our twisted rape culture, not rape victims.” (Source) While I could further discuss the complex nature of comedians usage of such humour, given its complexity and keeping in mind the target audience, this post will not explore that far.
It’s clear that amidst the audience that takes offence by this kind of humour, the majority are women, although a good amount of men also stand up against them, like myself. If there’s anything this distinction brings out, it’s that those who condone this behaviour, have not experienced the fear, judgement, anxiety and other negative affects of society. They have not been taught to ‘protect’ themselves subsequently lacking the ability to empathise in such a situation and not be able to see the picture from the shoes of someone who understands. Privilege.
Granted not everyone can easily understand perspectives from a view point that they haven’t experienced first-hand, but at least, taking a look at the magnitude of people that reason against this kind of humour, give it the benefit of the doubt and keep away from this humour. Trust and respect the reasoning of others even if you don’t fully understand it (especially on matters like this). When someone feels uncomfortable, the matter ends there, no one else gets to decide how they feel. It’s not like it’s the only kind of humour available out there for you to so eagerly defend.
Apart from the discomfort caused by such humour, repeatedly using it risks the sub-conscious acceptance of such behaviours in practice. For those who already fail to see the harm their toxic behaviours cause, such humour further strengthens their beliefs, even if it wasn’t the intention of the person making the joke. What could of started as innocent jokes might eventually turn into strengthening their beliefs, and lead to the jokes not remaining jokes anymore. While this isn’t something that will happen in a very short duration, or something easily visible at the surface level, given the subconscious effect and impact such humour has on those around, as discussed earlier, the possibility of such escalation cannot be refuted.
The privilege arises from existing social norms that have been created decades ago, and still persist, although eroding to some extent. The lack of teaching ones children respect for all people, regardless of their gender, for the virtue of being human further contributes to condoning such negative behaviours. Giving focus on guiding the women to stay safe, cover, and stay home instead of teaching everyone to control their thoughts, actions and respect others adds more fuel to the fire.
The humour part won’t necessarily be noted by the younger audiences (
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
With the much needed reforms in the Indian education sector, I’ve decided to go through it myself and without any external influence- draw interpretations, and analyse it critically inclusive of both appraisals and concerns. This article is not a pro-NEP or an anti-NEP write-up.
There is a lot of content regarding regulatory systems and bureaucracy that I will not be discussing. I do not want to beat around the bush. Bureaucracy and regulations are not my field yet.
Basics and Introduction of New Education Policy 2020 of India
“It is becoming increasingly important that children not only learn but learn how to learn.”
-Clause 0.3 of the NEP 2020
“The foundational pillars of this Policy are access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability. It believes that the purpose of education is to develop good human beings“
-Clause 0.12 of the NEP 2020
The principles and introduction of the policy reflects the much needed changes of 21st century learning. The ideas and aims reflect progressive, forward-looking and all-round developing thinking of the writers of this policy. It seeks to break conventional narrow-minded mentalities among other things. It also strengthens multiple important points such as the esteemed nature of the teaching profession, the focus of education being a public service and not a commercial activity and more (regulatory frameworks, restructuring institutions, consolidating higher-education institutions etc.)
No hard separation between arts, Commerce and Sciences
Policy is not the basis on which the existence of subject choices is decided. The pay of requisite teacher, demand from students, and whether enough numbers exist to sustain a class are also important. The same issues shape the availability of subjects in other curriculum. The hard-line stream division is only for easier identification of one’s pathway and doesn’t shape the availability of subjects. If anything, it had negatively affected people’s mindsets and attitudes- that is something we cannot ignore. But to say that saying that there is no more separation will solve the problem of lack of subjects is ignorant of the system- not entirely, but to a great extent.
We know that more girls take humanities related subjects than boys. This is something I’ve noticed in my school- an all-boys school- that does not offer humanities subjects- simply because the demand for such does not exist- not enough boys want it to sustain a class that wont send that department into loss. Our girls branch counterpart has multiple humanities classes. This inherent disparity in demand has been created by mindset and attitudes- not policy. It’s not like my school never had humanities. We did. The demand fell, hence so did the subject options.
I understand that NEP did not intend to solve the availability problem with point 0.13 alone, but many who I have heard opinions on NEP from, thought that was meant to be the outcome.
No Separation Between Curricular and Extra-Curricular
The idea is great. Academics are not everything. Extra-curriculars also play a very important role. However, the enrolment systems into higher education in India do not talk about the importance of extra-curricular and non-academic activities pursued in high school. Such a provision would act as an incentive for students to pursue extra-curriculars in high school as it would aid their admissions into university. In clauses 4.38 and beyond, there is sole emphasis on newly developed national entrance tests based on aptitude and subject-knowledge. This narrows down the entrance into higher education back to a one lane road for the most part ignoring extra-curriculars.
No Separation Between Vocational and Academic Subjects
Perhaps this is a good change towards attitudes of people because now that vocational and academic subjects will be viewed as a free choice without any hierarchy of higher value, there will be less discrimination and erosion of negative attitudes to formerly vocational subjects.
This does not eliminate the pay gap between them and will still leave the income disparities in place. But, it is something that will make it easier for people to realise that lower paying jobs do not make you any less of a person. It will strengthen the essential need for quote unquote lowering paying jobs and how we should be grateful and kind to those invisible pillars that keep our society up.
Inadequately and Undiscussed Points in the NEP (With regards to Education Directly)
The document discusses every possible modern field and re-structures examination for the greater good through clauses 4.7, 4.23, 4.24, 4.25, 4.26, 4.32, 4.33, and 4.36 among others.
Concerns with eliminating rote-based (memorising) learning
4.7 along with few other points in the introduction make way for reducing memorisation-based learning. I do not know how this will work but I hope it’s not how the case study application questions worked in a few places (eg. Business) – reducing detail in subjects and limiting to core foundation to make way for critical and holistic development after that.
The trend of trying to inculcate HOTS and critical thinking content up till now in those subjects have only added an extra layer of work rather than actually reaching the ends proposed- instead of directly writing down your memorised content in response to a direct question. An indirect question (let’s say, a case study) needs to be first analysed so you can figure out what part of your memorised information has to be spewed out in those spaces: if that’s what they mean by application based learning- then we’re only complicating the system further, and not simplifying it, whether or not accompanied by a reduction in content- such a system would make redundant whatever is left of what was reduced.
Outdated Contentin Textbooks
The NEP also did not talk about using updated content and relevant resources. It mentioned the use of translated resources (discussed further ahead in the language section), looking away from rote based learning but not using updated content. Such drawbacks are greatly felt in subjects such as accountancy and computers where decades old programs (where am I expected to learn 1992 C++?) and theories that no longer apply are taught and assessed only to have to unlearn all of it in university. This trend of having to ‘unlearn’ high-school content in university because of its outdated nature is prevalent in most subjects.
Another point to be noted is the concept of ‘Advanced Standing Credit Transfer‘ offered by universities. If a student has scored good in any relevant university subjects during high-school, they’re permitted to skip taking it in university hence be granted credits in their first year itself. The fact that universities do not consider Indian Central and State Board subjects eligible for this system regardless of ones score further calls for a need to update our content.
Academic Writing and Research Skills Remain Unaddressed
Apart from focusing literature and culture- academic writing and research styles should also have been given importance. Subjects such as history and politics should teach such skills more than focusing on giving mere information so students can know better how to look from multiple perspectives, verify sources and write essays effectively. This problem is assessed in higher education but with an enrolment ratio of under 30% (within India), perhaps it is something that would be beneficial if introduced in high school.
Failure in Effectively Addressing Mental Health and Sex Education
Higher education and high school education fail to address mental health challenges as well as the need for sex education in an overpopulated and challenging India. Indian mentalities towards both topics remain a taboo and the aftermath of the unfortunate demise of Sushant Singh serve as proof for the former and population explosion and STDs for the latter.
Implementation and General Policy Concerns
”all State/UT governments will immediately prepare an implementation plan for attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary and middle schools, identifying stage-wise targets and goals to be achieved by 2025,”
-Clause 2.2 of the NEP 2020
What is foundational literacy and numeracy? It is associated to the skills that enable a child to correctly and smoothly read the words on the page, including phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, phonics, spelling, and fluency. Numeracy is its mathematical (arithmetic) equivalent.
“If action is not taken soon, over the next few years, then we could lose 10 crores or more students from the learning system to illiteracy.”
-Clause 2.1 of the NEP 2020
This translates to the loss of elementary students who will be lost to illiteracy due to lack of sustainable foundational literacy. The statistics of losing enrolled students to illiteracy due to lack of foundation reflect the failure of our previous policies in being sustained. The enrolment ratios will show implementation of policies but statistics like these reflect the hollow nature of their implementation and the lack of sustainability in the way they were implemented.
The policy mentions a lot of unfinished and unimplemented plans from previous years. This along with other trends in India at present gives the obvious fear that NEP2020 might also just be one of them, if not wholly, to an extent. The document also calls for the establishment of over five different authorities that will regulate and assist in various regulatory and policy frameworks to implement the NEP. This raises the fears of its costs, how the money will be acquired, how long will it take to be created, and then to sustain it, and keep it free from corruption. All the ideas, to my best knowledge, with regards to the departments are in good light but if not implemented properly. This will be yet another failed document cited in a future policy update, with possibly a worsened situation at hand to deal with.
Apart from this, I’ve skipped most content regarding expansions, construction, funding, salaries, promotions, qualifications and recognition of teachers and educators—again, those aren’t policies that can be gone against—but something that relies on implementation. Those are beautiful on paper, but if not effectively implemented—will be yet another failed plan.
Health and Wellness of Students
References are made regarding health checks, medical wellness and food serving…
-Clause 2.7 of the NEP 2020
Concerns are raised with regards to this point if we see what is going on with COVID19, the country is under heavy criticism for its lack of accountability and reliability. So, how transparent will these checks really be? We know there is rampant corruption with govt services. We have heard the lack of quality the mid-day meal program had. While 2.7 sounds amazing to read, our history as discussed in the previous point (2.1) and other conditions make me worry to what extent will it be implemented, and how transparent, nay, reliable will the government really be about it?
Furthermore, among the health and wellness points- the easy access and provision of sanitary resources and related comfort for girls is not mentioned. The problems caused by it in their attendance as well as the financial difficulty in obtaining such resources is a vital point left undiscussed in NEP.
Language Related Clauses in The NEP
“Wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother-tongue/local language.” After which it becomes a second language. Ttwo other languages will also be taught as children can pick up languages easily in young ages.
-Clause 4.9-4.10 of the NEP 2020
If implemented correctly then great. Otherwise sometimes languages are not taught effectively and teachers themselves give way to just pass its exams without having made much real progress. The results will be disastrous if such a case occurs. That is the style in which I’ve noticed many people learn different languages when the school called for it- memorising and relying on ‘key words’. The teachers themselves leniently sometimes help students during exams and leak questions prior to it.
“Science and maths will be taught bilingually from grade 6.”
-Clause 4.12 of the NEP 2020
The purpose seems to be national integration. As step one, it makes sense. When I first read it, from the view of a global citizen, stressing on languages that are dying out for just culture seemed bizarre because I would prioritise being able to communicate with larger masses and not give in to mere culture if there isn’t any benefit. But it makes sense for the second most populated nation in the world to first focus on bridging the language barriers within itself before worrying about global ones.
“every” student will do project activity on languages of India in grade 6-8 focusing on major Indian languages and their origins and sources from Sanskrit and other classical languages. What geographical areas speak which languages and the influences and differences. Learn a few lines in every major language of India. No assessments.
-Clause 4.15 of the NEP 2020
I feel like, the lines learnt will be forgotten because most people will not be in constant travel after acquiring this knowledge and since its selective lines- depending on the student- it can be easily forgotten. However, this project will surely prevent demographic discrimination between students who take it seriously and aid national integration towards a united Indian front.
Sanskrit, other and foreign languages will be offered at all levels as an option.
-Clause 4.16, 4.18 and 4.20 of the NEP 2020
I heard people being upset about teaching students an outdated language (Sanskrit) being useless but from my understanding of this simple paragraph, it is not going to be compulsory. This raises questions on the implementation of this clause though. As mentioned earlier- the availability of subjects does not depend solely on policy but more on demand and costs. What if only one student opts for a certain language? Will the school still be forced to offer it given that they will sustain a loss for hiring a teacher for ONE student only. Will the government fund such losses, or exempt the school from adhering to this clause?
Other Language-Related Clauses
They want to maintain languages. UNESCO declared 197 Indian languages as endangered. This does not include the already extinct languages of course or the ones that might be close to reaching the endangered scenario. While the government can surely come up with ways to preserve such languages in books and produce its content thereof.
Realistically speaking, towards a more globalised world, there is going to be an inevitable extinction of languages with the only remainder of multiple core and national languages. Obviously, I do not see this narrowing down to come to a small one- or two-digit number but the narrowing down is inevitable because enough people will not be willing to preserve dying out languages.
There is a mention of use of such languages only for literature. It makes sense. A person who’s primary and/or secondary languages are not endangered will, in most cases, not need to learn an endangered language to use it but to know its heritage and literature.
These opinions and clauses do not imply a blockage of education in the languages in question of course as the use of local language as the medium of instruction has already been guaranteed in the earlier pages.
Languages can be uploaded on app that functions like Duolingo and its data can be preserved so even if time snatches away its teachers and physical resources. A protected Duolingo inspired data and teaching mechanism would keep the doors of learning it open.
Emphasis on Use of technology and online modules (Clause 4.19 among others)
Affordability and access to the lower income households. We have seen news of parents of poor families sell their assets for the sole purchase of a device that will enable their child to attend online classes. Some have ended their lives. Some would have dropped out. This accessibility concern in times of pandemic, and in the general quest of technological advancement needs to be urgently addressed. Otherwise, the further development and technological advancement aspect of the education reforms will only benefit the richer classes and prove correct the negative notions against the policy which accuse it of further aiding only the privileged section of the society.
I understand completely why people feel that way. To an extent, I can agree with it too. If we take the society to be a house. Let the foundation be its poor and uneducated people and as we raise the walls and go to the roof, consider them getting richer and further educated. When you build a house, you would focus on the foundation first and then slowly go up making sure everything from the foundation is strong and complete first.
However, a government cannot be expected to work for just one section of society. It must work for all its sections- especially for a government that is not extreme towards either capitalism or socialism. Hence its attempt on building all segments of the earlier described house is equally understandable as much as the outrage.
However, my tolerance towards this is because I give it the benefit of the doubt that the educational aims in this policy will be implemented as mentioned, and the government will complement it with socio-economic solutions as well so as to avoid the widening of economic and educational disparities.
Recruitment and Incentives for Teachers
“Availability of merit scholarships for B.Ed programs to recruit teachers. Provision of incentives for teachers to teach in areas of shortage near them. Incentives being provision of local housing or housing allowances.”
-Clause 5.2 of the NEP 2020
The effectiveness of this clause can only be determined with the value of the incentive compared to what they already have. Philanthropic motives help society (if teachers volunteer to help sections of need without demanding incentives), but incentives are designed for greater effectiveness keeping in mind human psychology. If the value of incentive implies a downgrade, then the clause will not reach its full potential. Besides, teaching is the most Honorable profession. It shapes all other professions. It is what makes children ready for the coming years, and their coming lives and jobs. So, the incentive should be high- without teachers none of the so called higher pay deserving jobs would exist.
Inclusion and Accessibility in the NEP 2020
Use of the word ‘disabilities’ (Clause 5.21)
Apprehensive about the use of the word disabilities. Using a word like differently-abled would make more sense because in the long run it will help in reducing negative mindsets against such people. Even with the word disability, the awareness spread about inclusiveness helps reduce such negative attitudes but sometimes, when the child in question is stressed, they take the negative interpretation of it. If a teacher, parent, or peer is upset with this child, they throw their inclusive ideas out the window and lash out with the negative conventional beliefs against them. I feel using a less aggressive word would help inhibit such situations.
Regions Needing Special Intervention (Clause 6)
“development of special education zones for regions that need special and concentrated intervention and a ‘gender-inclusion fund’ for girls and transgender education. Free boarding facilities for disadvantaged economic backgrounds with safety especially for girls- separate hostel, female warden, security, and boundary wall). Expansion of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalay to Grade 12. Additional schools that help the disadvantaged as well. Sensitizing people especially staff to the concept of inclusion.”
-Clause 6 and its sub-clauses of the NEP 2020
The recognition and focus on areas that need urgent and special attention is applaudable. However, like every other word in this document. The real applause will only come if it is implemented in the same way it is written. Furthermore, educational reforms for the Socio-Economic Disadvantaged Group (SEDG) must be accompanied with economic and social reforms for them as well. One of the reasons they do not attend schools is because their family employs them in work that will increase their family income. A sole educational reform will not transform the lives of SEDGs. Increase of access without reforms that create their will to utilize this access will not create much change.
Anti-Commercialisation (Clause 8.7, among others)
“Stopping commercialisation of education by promoting philanthropic private schools and improving public schools.”
-Clause 8.7 of the NEP 2020
This will be redundant if the ‘infrastructure’ and quality of education is not good. The government sector will yet again be an inefficient and low-class system. This does not mean they have to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure and pretty aesthetics. Ensuring safety and comfort of students while achieving the other goals in this policy is an acceptable target for the public education system, and I cannot stress this enough- implementation, implementation and implementation.
Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment (Clause 8.12)
The policy talks about systems against discrimination and harassment but does not provide any detail on it. Furthermore, Safety of girl children must be accompanied with demolishing established norms for positive long-term outputs.
Among notions of ‘visual distraction’ in terms of dressing sense. A girl being told to dress properly so the boys don’t get distracted shows the prioritisation of distraction-free learning for boys and a comparative lack of importance of education for girls.
The development of a dress code should adhere to the secular nature of the government and go together with teaching boys to learn how to manage their distractions and lower their gaze. The importance of neither should supersede each other- if it must, then the boys should be taught to control their distraction and gaze more than the girls dress code should be regulated.
Higher Education (University)
Gross Enrolment Ratio
“Increasing gross enrolment ratio to 50% by 2030”
-One of the goals of the NEP 2020
Apart from personal development and soft skills- the primary purpose of higher education has been to manage to make a living, among other reasons. I cannot resonate with a goal that focuses solely on an enrolment statistic for higher education.
The higher education system should be improved and made more towards development of skills and discovering opportunities and made more affordable. The success of these measures should also be calculated by the knowledge of what graduates do after finishing their studies, unemployment levels and social state of the nation.
Making all university courses multi-disciplinary (Clause 11 among others)
This explains making education include holistic arts. Science students learning arts and arts students learning science and all learning vocational. This is not an option. This opens the ends for students enabling them to be able to change their mind and discover new interests—”jack of all trades- master of none- still better than a master of one” is a quote I’ve always resonated with, and the style of university education I will be pursuing from next month onward is also as it is described here- multidisciplinary- so reading this makes me happy. It is clearly a progressive move. Yes, to an extent, it can make securing a high GPA difficult, but it is for the better. Not all good changes come in the form of a piece of cake.
Internships and the NEP 2020
Talks about provision of internships with local industries and businesses are progressive and definitely advantageous for students as it helps them apply what they learn but the erosion of local industries and businesses places a question mark on not the emergence of these opportunities but its sustenance.
I’ve heard the notion that provision of internships at high school and university level snatches opportunities away from the economically disadvantaged. While I somewhat understand this, I also don’t. To fight this notion, the implementation of the policy needs to ensure that the economically disadvantaged are able to access and afford this high-school and higher level of education so they can reap the benefits it provides as well. Combating the existence of internships as a whole does a lot more harm than good.
Foreign Universities and Multilingual University Programs
Allowing foreign universities (among top 100 for example) to settle branches in India
-Clause 12.8 of the NEP
It would be beneficial if the quality of education and variety is up to the mark. Branches of reputed university in nations out of the host country are vastly different and are often not considered good—a lot of students attending such branches console themselves with the notion that their degree will be accredited from the host country. Keeping that in mind, whether such an action will stop brain-drain is unknown.
Achieving global excellence status of Indian universities, hosting programs in local language, and discontinuing M. Phil.
-Clause 11.9 of the NEP 2020
Discontinuing M. Phil suddenly does not seem like a good idea. The clause does not mention from when it will be discontinued leading me to believe it is immediate. Perhaps a notice period would be beneficial for those who wished to take it up in the very near future.
The clause further talks about aiming to achieve global status of Indian universities such as the ivy leagues and mentioned encouraging them to host programs in local languages. For a country that is beginning to develop world-wide standards to offer its programs in only local language(s) will slow down the process of achieving greater international influx of wanting Indian education as the motive of students to come to the nation is low, and the language barrier would further decrease the motive. Hosting programs in local languages shouldn’t be entirely encouraged- if anything, it should be bilingually available, or in a major language first.
Agricultural Higher Education
Agricultural education reforms need to be accompanied with reforms in the agricultural sector itself. There are so many cases of farmers not being able to sustain themselves, repay loans and many other concerns. Mere provision of agricultural education to a section that already, for the most part, cannot afford to sustain themselves will not bring about significant change in its corresponding sector.
Some might say, despite the many good things, which I recognised, my criticism is uncalled for. But again, if you had yourself a house built- and they forgot to add windows- would you still be as happy as you thought you’d be?
Fasting in Ramadan is done to induce a sense of submission and fear of God, and has many other objectives as well- such as learning to empathize with those who are unfortunate and lack food, so that we can be more grateful and value what we have.
When it comes to such abstentions, your net intake of food must be reduced. Fasting does not mean you abstain from food for the required hours and then compensate for that abstention in the hours you’re not fasting.
The issue with a majority of us at this point is, once we’re done fasting- we feast. Our Iftaar and Suhoor food amounts are like the plates we make when we go to our cousins weddings.
Interestingly, humans can actually eat an amount of food before feeling full which is higher than the amount they can comfortably digest.
Hence, intake of regular daily calories in the short span of the time one does not fast in is highly discouraged as it can lead to digestive problems like indigestion etc.
Recommended Link For Detailed Advice on Food Habits: Healthy Eating During Ramadan
In conclusion, make sure you eat in right amounts, eat slowly and do not eat too much at once, make sure your food is healthy as well and does not cause much of a threat to your digestive system. Also, have adequate amount of water to keep you hydrated as well!
Fasting is not to shift your eating hours to another part of the day but to reduce food intake as a whole.
Doing this has numerous other health benefits as well. Since there is less of digestion to take place, the body has more time to detoxify and improve the physiological functioning as well.
Fasting properly also reduces weight and prevents obesity.
Coming to the great blessing when one fasts properly, Fasting prevents cancer, how?
According to discoveries by the Nobel prize laureate- Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi, in the field of prevention of cancer was that staying hungry reduces risk of cancer. But how?
When a person stays hungry, obviously the nutrients in the body deplete. This further leads the body to demand nutrients, and it does so by eating up the old and unneeded parts of the internal body (Autophagy)
Yoshinori further advised to stay hungry in order to reduce the amount of old and unneeded machinery of their bodies, in turn reducing the chance of cancer. However, he was questioned on how many days should a person stay hungry in a year for Autophagy to work effectively.
Fasting in Ramadan is done to induce a sense of submission and fear of God, and has many other objectives as well- such as learning to empathize with those who are unfortunate and lack food, so that we can be more grateful and value what we have.
When it comes to such abstentions, your net intake of food must be reduced. Fasting does not mean you abstain from food for the required hours and then compensate for that abstention in the hours you’re not fasting.
The issue with a majority of us at this point is, once we’re done fasting- we feast. Our Iftaar and Suhoor food amounts are like the plates we make when we go to our cousins weddings.
Interestingly, humans can actually eat an amount of food before feeling full which is higher than the amount they can comfortably digest.
Hence, intake of regular daily calories in the short span of the time one does not fast in is highly discouraged as it can lead to digestive problems like indigestion etc.
Recommended Link For Detailed Advice on Food Habits: Healthy Eating During Ramadan
In conclusion, make sure you eat in right amounts, eat slowly and do not eat too much at once, make sure your food is healthy as well and does not cause much of a threat to your digestive system. Also, have adequate amount of water to keep you hydrated as well!
Fasting is not to shift your eating hours to another part of the day but to reduce food intake as a whole.
Doing this has numerous other health benefits as well. Since there is less of digestion to take place, the body has more time to detoxify and improve the physiological functioning as well.
Fasting properly also reduces weight and prevents obesity.
Coming to the great blessing when one fasts properly, Fasting prevents cancer, how?
According to discoveries by the Nobel prize laureate- Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi, in the field of prevention of cancer was that staying hungry reduces risk of cancer. But how?
When a person stays hungry, obviously the nutrients in the body deplete. This further leads the body to demand nutrients, and it does so by eating up the old and unneeded parts of the internal body (Autophagy)
Yoshinori further advised to stay hungry in order to reduce the amount of old and unneeded machinery of their bodies, in turn reducing the chance of cancer. However, he was questioned on how many days should a person stay hungry in a year for Autophagy to work effectively.
This is the year most of us plan to change schools and I find no hour more fit than now to write this.
It’s a common concern for all of us in not wanting to change schools, or if we finalize our decision to change- we tend to worry and stress out about things like new friends, education, teaching, teachers, atmosphere, type of classmates, popularity reset etc.
However, we must realize that such turns of life are inevitable and at some point or the other we have to face such separation and changes. Coping up with these will do nothing but make you stronger and teach you how to handle situations. Fearing such changes show a weak character and we must develop a strong personality and learn to face such challenges in life.
If we fail our childhood challenges, what victory can we achieve in adulthood?
Situation: Changing of schools within the same country in search of new opportunities, better education and greater value for money. Do not consider it as a disadvantage.
Friends: Facing the separation from friends sure is a difficult thing to manage, but yet again, it is not compulsory that life needs to carry on with such intimacy and clinginess towards others; which at times is counter-productive even.You can always make new friends in the new atmosphere you go to. If introverted, you can still do so. It’ll take time but within a week or so you will make friends for sure! (personal experience, back to when I was the biggest introvert I knew existed) You could listen to others conversations and if a topic of interest comes up, put in your opinions! Try to converse and move out of your introverted shell.The similarity of opinions and shared interests is a vital factor which can help you interact with the new creatures of your species. The most effective factor that binds peoples feelings and friendships together is similarities and interests. Make sure you express yourself, no one out there with a good heart will judge you. If someone does, you don’t need them in your life. Once your classmates know your interests and vice-versa, automatically conversing will be easier and so will bonding!
Note to students who are not changing schools (Important!): There’s a high chance you’ll have an influx of students in your class, they might be introverted and might not be able to initiate a conversation. You break the ice! Talk to the new students and introduce them to their new home. Be the person who interacts and makes others feel like home. (Let’s just ignore the fact that I was introduced with a “welcome to jail”. jokes apart, they’re really good people and helped me converse with others- I hadn’t initiated conversations myself in my new school’s first week)
Teaching and Educational Procedures: If you are changing schools to the same curriculum, you already know most of what you need to. Besides that, do check with the school teachers, students and your own experience after changing, on how they go about with notebooks and other tasks and adapt accordingly.Feel free to question your classmates and teachers regarding any procedure or happening that you are blank about, it is their duty to answer you and your right to question them.(I made the mistake of not asking how the homework procedure goes about in the first week of my new school and it was pretty different from my old, messed up my first few lessons thanks to that- don’t make the mistake I initially made!)
If you are changing to a different curriculum, make sure you’ve done all required research about how the new curriculum works and then follow along teachers and school instructions and you should be good!
A new image, new life and a fresh start!: Turns out that some of us develop a negative and controversial image in a particular school due to various negative social factors.changing schools is like you hit the reset button! New school, no one knows who you are, no one knows your past. Now it’s your duty to make the best of the opportunities there and develop a favourable image, profile and do enough good to overshadow the past.
Look for the new features in your new school: Well obviously you wouldn’t have changed your school because you were bored and felt like going on a fun adventure, there must’ve been valid reasons. Maybe better facilities and more opportunities were one of them? Look around your school, check for such things and see what you can hold on to and develop! (eg. Your new school might have more sports and competitions of various sorts than your old)
All these tasks won’t come about with the snap of a finger, all changes and effective outcomes demand effort and determination. Don’t let this stop you from your quest for adapting to the new environment. It’s worth it.
Pro-Tip: Land commendable impressions on your teachers and classmates in the first week of your new school itself, It will greatly accelerate your process of integration and growth in the school. If done successfully, you can accomplish in one year more in your new school than what you might have done in multiple years in your old school.
And obviously there will be some jealous kids out there who will seek to destroy your reputation and harm you in various ways, I’ve had one of my notebooks thrown away by a boy for ‘jealousy’ as my teacher addressed it upon finding out.
But don’t let that stop you either, as long as your impressions come about by genuine deeds and natural personality (and not fake and dramatic methods), you know you are going on the right path!
Note: If you are shifting from a small school to a larger one, you are actually lucky in that case, Don’t keep an ideology that lives of students in the new school are already set and they are clung to the top rung charts of the school.
In a matter of a year or two, with dedication and determination, you could occupy those spots too- but only with hard work and willpower.
Changing from a small school to a larger one is like shifting from a pond to an ocean, sure you will have difficulty to adapt and survive, but when you get the hang of it. You’re ready to slay the new battlefield!
This is about it for support on changing schools within the same country, I will leave changing schools inter-country and migration for another day, if the demand for that post is there, I will. Depends on your readers whether or not you want to see it.
Hope this helped and all the very best if you’re changing schools!
Fasting in Ramadan is done to induce a sense of submission and fear of God, and has many other objectives as well- such as learning to empathize with those who are unfortunate and lack food, so that we can be more grateful and value what we have.
When it comes to such abstentions, your net intake of food must be reduced. Fasting does not mean you abstain from food for the required hours and then compensate for that abstention in the hours you’re not fasting.
The issue with a majority of us at this point is, once we’re done fasting- we feast. Our Iftaar and Suhoor food amounts are like the plates we make when we go to our cousins weddings.
Interestingly, humans can actually eat an amount of food before feeling full which is higher than the amount they can comfortably digest.
Hence, intake of regular daily calories in the short span of the time one does not fast in is highly discouraged as it can lead to digestive problems like indigestion etc.
Recommended Link For Detailed Advice on Food Habits: Healthy Eating During Ramadan
In conclusion, make sure you eat in right amounts, eat slowly and do not eat too much at once, make sure your food is healthy as well and does not cause much of a threat to your digestive system. Also, have adequate amount of water to keep you hydrated as well!
Fasting is not to shift your eating hours to another part of the day but to reduce food intake as a whole.
Doing this has numerous other health benefits as well. Since there is less of digestion to take place, the body has more time to detoxify and improve the physiological functioning as well.
Fasting properly also reduces weight and prevents obesity.
Coming to the great blessing when one fasts properly, Fasting prevents cancer, how?
According to discoveries by the Nobel prize laureate- Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi, in the field of prevention of cancer was that staying hungry reduces risk of cancer. But how?
When a person stays hungry, obviously the nutrients in the body deplete. This further leads the body to demand nutrients, and it does so by eating up the old and unneeded parts of the internal body (Autophagy)
Yoshinori further advised to stay hungry in order to reduce the amount of old and unneeded machinery of their bodies, in turn reducing the chance of cancer. However, he was questioned on how many days should a person stay hungry in a year for Autophagy to work effectively.
Do you ever find yourself reading for hours for a test or to understand something, highlighting or underlining in the books, and repeating the content to yourself only to realize that you remember little to none of it on the day of your exam? You spend so much time trying to do well, but the results don’t reflect that. And now you’re demotivated and the expectations of people are further putting you down.
In the next few minutes, I’ll show you exactly how to bust those illusions of competence in learning and soar higher than ever. I’ll also tell you not just how you can ace your exams but also master your productivity, socialize, AND get enough sleep. It’s time to abolish the need for all-nighters!
If I had an axe and 10 hours to chop a tree, I’d spend the first few hours sharpening the axe to cut the tree faster. This post may be long but it has been written after extensive research and reflection of experiences. You won’t regret reading these 20+ amazing learning, time-management, and productivity strategies, and psychological hacks!
Table of Contents
To learn effectively – first UNLEARN.
High-school has almost always drawn our focus to end results, examinations, and getting into a good university. Undoubtedly, that is the ideal result but that approach can limit the efficiency of many students.
Consider this, you’re planning a journey far away by car. It’s important to know your destination and that you need to get there. But you want to be prepared for it too. You don’t want to rush to it, but make sure the journey is smooth. For that, you need to focus on the journey itself first – the travel, your baggage (not emotional!), necessary items, first-aid, etc. Rushing or focusing too much on the destination might end up in multiple stops along the way to purchase essential items you might have forgotten or even worse – you get lost and never reach the destination.
Most of the tools we are equipped with in our learning journey are not efficient. Many of the things we’re told, the mindsets we’ve developed, the goals we’re made to make, the manner in which we’re told to achieve them create numerous limitations for us. A lot of things that a majority might be seen doing end up as very ineffective – like – underlining, highlighting, rereading, etc. Those create illusions of competence in learning. So, it is important that we replace these inefficiencies.
Illusions of Competence in Learning
The illusion of competence in learning is a misconception that learners hold where they think that they understand and have learned a certain concept or material because they have spent time attempting to do so. The familiarity of having gone through it is mistaken for having learned it. For example, reading the circular flow of an economy five times will make you know that the circular flow exists but not enable you in being able to explain it or answer questions related to it.
You might have kept your books open to create an illusion for your parents or siblings that you are studying while you might actually be scrolling through memes, but there are also times where you are genuinely studying but are unaware that those methods have created an illusion that you are yet to realize. While your parents work on busting the illusion you actively create, let’s bust the illusion you’ve subconsciously created.
ILLUSION OF REPETITION
Repeating content enables us to recognize it and be familiar with its existence but not be able to learn or explain it again. To think that repetition is equal to learning is the illusion of repetition. Sometimes we even end up getting lost in a robotic sense of repetition and it hits us later that we lost track of what we’re even repeating.
ILLUSION OF CONFIDENCE
When we recognize or remember that we’ve gone over certain topics, we mistake it for having learned it and thinking that we can answer questions related to it. There is a false sense of confidence.
Since time is short, this often leads us to believe that we should focus on something else and we keep delaying revising familiar concepts. This illusion can prevent looking for extra help, resources, doubt clarification, and revision. Students may also avoid revision tests for the same reason only to have their reality checked by the exam.
Studying strategies that you might mistake for effective learning
Over-highlighting
Beautifying your notes too much
Rewriting long sentences and trying to take a transcript of lectures
Multitasking
Skimming through questions without trying to work out at least an outline of solutions
Listening to videos or lectures without much focus
Sleeping with your notes under your pillow
Being forced for tutoring additional to school
Think about it, what studying habits do you have? Are you getting the results you think you should get? Can you see any other unproductive patterns or catch any illusions?
ILLUSION OF DIFFICULTY
Approaching “difficult” or new concepts often scares us and induces a sense of anxiety with a fear of failure in learning said concept. However, in many cases, this fear or perceived difficulty is exaggerated.
You’re most probably thinking of Math, or any other subject that makes you go “ugh”. In my last two high school years – I ran away from Math. However, after rocking the 40-60% range for most of two years, I pulled up to 90s in the final examinations. Looking back, I realize that it was mostly an illusion of difficulty and lack of effort on my part (remember, time spent does not equal success – you might be using the wrong strategies and creating an illusion of confidence!).
I don’t want to be a doctor that prescribes the same medicine to all the patients so note that some of these strategies may or may not work for you. Experiment and find out which ones work best. Be sure to find out what kind of learner you are and use relevant resources to unleash your maximum potential. Even then, you can experiment from a plethora of resources that I’ve provided below!
Productive Learning Methods – Preventing the Illusion of Competence in Learning and More!
Psychology, Motivation, and Mindset in the Learning Process
BEATING THE ILLUSION OF DIFFICULTY
When approaching subjects and concepts that make you feel anxious and uncomfortable to study or approaching something new that makes you want to procrastinate, work through that discomfort otherwise you enter an ever increasing spiral. A research shows that the fear and discomfort arises by the thought of doing that work but after starting it, the pain begins to disappear.
VISUALIZATION
Visualization might also help beat the illusion of difficulty. By this, I don’t mean get lost in the fantasies of high results (but if that motivates you, do it!). Rather, imagine yourself in the process of learning, working and enjoying it. As bizarre as it may sound, it is actually a proven effective strategy.
DEVELOP A GROWTH MINDSET
“Nurture is better than nature.” To think that your skills, knowledge, talents, and everything you’re good at is something you’re born with is a very limiting belief. The first step to learning is to acknowledge that you are born with stock settings and everything else is learned – either directly or indirectly.
This growth mindset – the belief that anything can be learned – will always keep you from giving up and striving towards improvement. You’ll also be able to appreciate your wins better. You’ll celebrate high results as a consequence of your effort and not “luck” or “the test was just made easy”. You’ll also learn to identify your challenges and cope with them effectively rather than attributing failures with “bad luck”, “the paper was made hard” or “this subject is just not for me”.
STEP OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Learning new things might also seem difficult because of cognitive fluency. Cognitive fluency is when understanding something becomes easy and smooth because of positive feelings towards it or experience. Only doing tasks where cognitive fluency helps us limits our growth.
You are a ruler and your comfort zone is your empire. You have to keep expanding your empire. You do so by expanding your comfort zone by getting out of it. Then that becomes your new comfort zone and you keep stepping out again and again and your empire keeps expanding and you never stop.
SET A STRONG FOUNDATION IN YOUR STUDENT LIFE
Set a strong foundation in your student life. This will serve as a key that’ll guide motivation. Find out why education is important for YOU (don’t listen to classical high school conditioning. Find YOUR purpose), where you’re headed and other important questions.
You’ll develop self-regulated learning and motivation habits easily. It’s like planting seeds. It’s step one. After which you put in effort and learn the best strategies to grow it and in the end you reap the results and modify your next crop to get even better yields. But step one is always planting the seeds – strengthening the foundation.
COMMUNICATE YOUR PLAN TO THOSE WHO REGULATE YOU
If you’re a high or middle school student, it is likely that your parents and teachers are very concerned about your performance and regulate you in various ways such as confiscating your gadgets, grounding you, forcing you to attend additional tuition classes, preventing you from signing up for extra-curricular activities, threatening to bar you from attending board examinations and so on.
As I said before, one size does not fit all! But, regulation stems from distrust in your strategies. Talk to your parents and teachers about what Amaan taught you in this post, devise a plan that suits your style and be transparent with them. Then assess your results and modify accordingly. My education was very regulated by my parents too in middle school – I even had a timer on my laptop in early middle school preventing me from using it outside assigned hours! But as time passed and I shifted to more self-regulated learning and produced results, all the regulations faded away.
OTHER MOTIVATION STRATEGIES
Set rewards for yourself
Re-frame punishments to rewards – change “I lose my phone if I don’t study” to “After I’m done studying, I can relax and scroll through endless memes!”
Think about the satisfaction you will get after finishing the task at hand.
Point of caution: if you have certain addictions (smoking, etc.), the satisfaction you will gain from doing other things will be lower as your harmful “modes of escape” are more chemically (brain and hormones and the fancy science stuff) rewarding. Be sure to actively fight off addictions as well.
Think about a bigger picture and give more meaning to what you do (reaffirming your foundation).
POINTS OF CAUTION IN MOTIVATION (Toxic Motivation)
PUNISHMENTS AND BEING HARSH WITH YOURSELF – While it may sometimes work in the short run, it is likely to do more harm than good in the long run.
SEEKING VALIDATION OR PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM SHAME – Same as the previous one, it is likely to do more harm than good in the long run. In fact, reflecting upon high school it makes me realize that this is what kept me going. I did not intend to pursue a career in the subjects I had – commerce – so I didn’t have long term goals for those subjects. But I am a person who tries to develop an “all-rounder” profile. My intense involvement in extracurricular activities led many to believe that it would affect my academics negatively. One of the reasons I tried to score higher (apart from good university entrance) was to prove those statements wrong and maintain my social standing and avoid the shame of hearing, “I told you so”. While my motivation sources in university are more interest-oriented (I love what I do!), I can recall my high school period being challenging because of this mountain of expectations from others and myself.
Important Tip! Motivation and learning should be regulated to protect your mental health. Don’t design your strategies in a way where you overwork, sleep less, take minimal breaks, compromise on food, drink and overall health. Be gentle with yourself for long-term results. I can’t even say that overworking makes your life machine-like, because even machines can overheat and ruin if they’re not maintained.
Specific Strategies and Tools that can Assist Your Learning
Recall
After you’ve gone over a concept, close your notes and recall and summarize what you’ve gone through (either in writing, verbally, or just in your mind). You can even try pretending like you have to explain it to (a) a child; and (b) someone your level to further grasp the concept. Recalling can also be done via self-testing.
Solving Questions & Self Testing
In learning, self-testing refers to the practice of quizzing yourself and testing your knowledge about certain concepts.
You can test yourself by attempting to solve questions that your instructor has given you or by finding questions online.
If you’re running low on time, you can outline the answers instead of doing them completely. Like in Math, You can write the steps and skip the arithmetic.
In other subjects, challenge the concepts by finding difficult questions, case studies, and applications.
Promote curiosity and inquisition. Put the concepts in different scenarios and answer the questions yourself or reach out to someone who knows how to answer them after you’ve tried it yourself adequately. This will also help you develop life-long learning skills beyond the concept you are trying to grasp.
You can even challenge your peers and make quizzes for each other.
Create Flashcards
You can create flashcards as you study. On the front of a card, you write your concept/question and on the back you have the answer. You can create a deck of cards and shuffle them and test yourself. Don’t look at the answer until you’ve made a serious attempt to answer it.
You could do this the old fashioned paper and craft method and upskill your art and crafts skill or,
Use apps and go digital – this will also help send you reports and analyze your performance efortlessly.
You can use this app for Android. Download it by clicking here.
Using the Focused and Diffused Mode Appropriately
The focused mode of thinking is when your brain processes information in deep detail and at a high technical and objective level. It is not a creative or dreamy state of mind.
The diffused mode of thinking is also referred to as the natural mode of thinking and is more subconscious than technical. It allows creativity, forming connections, curiosity, and other subconscious mental processes.
Thoughts that we collect in the focused mode are likely to stick for comparatively longer and deepen technical understanding of the matter. However, the diffused mode is also equally helpful. At times when we feel stuck, switching into the diffused mode (by doing something relaxing or meditating with a predetermined objective of observing learning recall and connections) can help break that block. Thoughts in the diffused mode can be forgotten very easily, so it is important that you write any “aha!” moments during this mode down immediately.
Fun fact! A lot of my blog post ideas come when I am in the diffused mode and not through active planning of “what’s next?” I write down prompts immediately as they come. I’ve been able to work better this way than sit down and actively think. But active thinking is what helps do the research. Clearly, both modes are important!
Understanding the Working and Long-Term Memory
Coursera’s course, Learning How to Learn explains that Working Memory is like a blackboard. We temporarily have some information but only a small amount of it. The long-term memory is compared to a storage warehouse where there is a very high storage capacity.
When we learn new things, they only remain in our working memory, and have to be actively recalled and revised to be saved in the long term memory – into the warehouse. But even then, since a warehouse is huge, if you don’t actively recall where in the warehouse this information is, you’ll end up losing it. The key to effective learning is persistently revising.
You can refer to items in your working memory as packets and their transfer to the warehouse as boxes. This brings us to the next learning strategy – chunking.
Creating Chunks, Metaphors, and Analogies To Learn Effectively
Chunking can be referred to as the process of converting related items in your working memory (small packets) into stored items in the long-term memory (boxes in a warehouse) or working memory items with already stored long-term memory items. This strategy calls for the grouping of concepts and information related to it, with other related concepts for easier remembering and understanding.
In the most basic sense, the definition of “photosynthesis” can be chunked as a step-by-step process. Each stage is a packet and the whole process is the chunk. However, there are other ways to chunk efficiently and understand concepts as well.
Spaced Repetition & Do not Cram!
“But I know so many students who work last minute and score well!” Nope, that’s simply not possible unless they somehow got information through osmosis into their brain as they slept with a book under their pillow.
Sure, they might not have spent many hours revising every day, but remember, time spent does not equal success. What you might be ignoring or what they might not be actively acknowledging could be the following:
They had prior knowledge on the subject.
Their learning sessions effectively utilized mental strategies.
They paid attention during class and formed chunks immediately.
They might have revised efficiently here and there but the time span was not too much to acknowledge
They recently embedded a 2 TB microchip in their brain.
I’ve done work last minute as well, but it was almost never just a night before, and I made sure to use the best tools and resources I had (mindset, rest, food, sleep, strategies, note-taking, time management, discipline against distractions, etc.).
Remembering information and concepts accurately requires spaced repetition. “Spaced repetition is a method where the subject is asked to remember a certain fact with the time intervals increasing each time the fact is presented or said.” This practice combines recall and memory to use your mental warehouse efficiently.
Time Management and Productivity Hacks and Strategies
Learning Productivity and Time Efficiency
You’re trying to turn in an assignment or study for a quiz but time is less and you’re panicking and now your productivity is falling because of anxiety. Or, your constantly worrying about the grade or what your instructor will think before you’re even done with the assignment. What should you do?
Realign your focus. To be productive and get into the flow of work, focus on working in that moment. Do not set your immediate target as “completion” or “grade” but “make progress in this moment”. This is an easier task that won’t induce anxiety and make time fly as you become productive. You can use this focus when you set timers of studying or working.
The Pomodoro technique is a great way of regulating this flow of work with productive periods and breaks (25 minutes work – 5 minutes break – 25 minutes work […] long break ). There are plenty of apps you can use to help time you and track your progress.
You can use this app for Android. Download it by clicking here.
Since some people work well under pressure, artificial time shortages can be created to increase productivity. You can do this by taking your laptop to a cafe without the charger and set a target. By doing this, you have the sense of urgency to finish your to-do list before your battery runs out.
Note-Taking
It is not reasonable to sit through classes or read material and remember everything important in one reading. It might help you ‘pass’ but not excel. There are many different ways in which you take notes of the lectures you attend and the content you read for easy referencing and looking back later on.
A paper is divided into three sections as follows. The note taking area is where your actual notes go, the cue column is where key words and terms that’ll help you recall will go and the summary column is an overview of what is in that page for quick reviewing.
Source: University of Maine at Fort Kent
The table of contents in this blog post has been written in the outline method. There are key headings, within each key heading there are sub-headings within which there are specific strategies. There is no need for any page divisions needed in this format but text is indented appropriately for clear organization.
This method involves drawing tables and columns. Works best for comparisons, pros & cons, timelines, and even description templates (you can create a table for historical battles with the columns reading ‘when?’, ‘where?’, ‘who?’, ‘victor?’, ‘why?’, & ‘impact?’ to better understand the many different wars).
If you saw my notes, you would notice different note taking formats. I keep switching depending on the subject and the type of content being delivered in that class and also on my mood (if I feel like doodling or not). Some concepts are best explained with mindmaps (organs of the U.N.), while some are better off with an outline (features/causes), the use of arrows (this led to this…), or doodles (e.g. simple drawings of a cannon, musket, and boat for “age of discovery”).
Environment and Sustainability!
As technology is advancing further, note-taking is also shifting from on-paper to digital. Of course, this is also something for you to find out what works best for you. Trying digital note-taking isn’t harmful! You could use your system’s default apps to stylus your notes away or download new ones. Or you could just type on your laptop like I do.
I’ll also be talking about a platform called ‘Notion‘ ahead for productivity, you can use that platform for note-taking as well as it provides templates of different styles.
Here’s a sample of my Cornell Note-taking on Notion
Point of caution! Try not to write full sentences and only take down KEY information (in the sample above I’ve used full sentences as the lecture pace was not too fast and I’m a fast typer). You don’t want your note taking to be slower than your instructor.
Special thanks to my peer Zoha Siddiqui (Junior 2 – Finance Major) for providing information on note-taking, the Cornell Method, Outlining, and Charting.
Time Management and Planning
My Google Calendar Set-Up – Includes Classes, Events, Deadlines & Misc. Tasks
Notion is your artificial workspace. You can organize almost your entire life using this website/app. You can organize your subjects, courses, finances, journaling, note-taking, goals, to-do list, deadlines and pretty much anything else you can imagine! You can create your own templates from scratch (you can refer to Ali Abdaal on YouTube to learn more) or use Notion’s preset templates on different things depending on what you want to do. Setting up this workspace or having any other form of organization will help you self-regulate your learning.
Here’s a sample of the interface of a workspace created by my peer Manaswi Madichetty – 3rd year – Finance major, and modified by me. The Cornell Notes method is also integrated into the Notion Course modules in this template! Within each course module.
If you have an email address that ends with “.edu”, register with that and you will have the Personal Pro plan for free. But even with a normal email, the free plan will enable you to solo-use this workspace. Register for a Notion account by clicking here. You can access and create a copy of the above template by clicking here.
I can provide all the content I want but success will be seen after you tailor it as per your needs and implement it. I hope this post helped you, all the best, and do let me know how you’ve seen changes before and after this read. If you found it helpful, don’t forget it share it with your peers and on your socials for your followers to benefit as well! Valuable growth is in sharing of knowledge.
Check Out Also:Test-Taking Strategies and Checklist!
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Even a toddler would know the importance people in the current age are giving to protecting the environment and sustainable development, barring whoever set the ocean on fire and casually brushes it off.
As an enthusiast of social sciences and modern day issues, reading about sustainable development was nothing out of the ordinary for me. Yet, one day, despite all that I’ve read about recycling, a friend stopped me from throwing a coffee cup in the recycling bin to ask, “did you check the number behind the cup?” What number? It had the recycling logo on it, what more did I have to see? It was then that I learned an eye opening piece of information.
It’s not the ‘recycling logo’ that matters but the number inside it to dictate whether it’s recyclable or not.
Eventually, I decided to conduct a small research to find out more about people and their practical knowledge of recycling by assessing (a) what people think they know; (b) what they actually know; (c) what their attitude is about knowing more; & (d) what they do. About 300 people participated in the survey, which was in the form of simple multiple choice questions posted on my Instagram story.
One of the most obvious conclusions in this is that people knew and preached more than they practice, but that’s not the alarming part so I’ll skip laying that data out. The more important revelation was that people overestimated their knowledge and practice of recycling. This study revealed that many respondents did not know the basics of recycling.
Among them, 63% people claimed that they knew how to check if an item was recyclable, and 62% claimed that they have actively recycled. This shows what they think about their recycling practices and it’s pretty positive! So then I decided to get more technical and test if they really knew enough.
Photo by Sarah Chai on Pexels.com
I asked participants if they knew where to recycle tetra pack milk cartons sorted by different geographic regions: those who lived in the United Arab Emirates, and those who did not. 22% of the former category claimed that they knew compared to 19% of the latter. The regional difference aside, given that tetra pack cartons are a common product in urban areas, a 19-22% recycling knowledge range is perhaps alarming.
But that question was too specific, so I asked a more general question to assess their practical knowledge. “Have you ever tried reading the grade of plastic (the number inside the recycling logo) printed on items?” But again, only 35% of respondents answered that they did.
Finally, I asked respondents if they make effort to learn more about recycling and only half of them said that they do.
The evidence was clear. Most of us think we know enough about recycling, we think we know how to recycle, but we don’t. It’s not like all of us are supposed to have a PhD in recycling or be a vocal environmentalist but at least we should know the basics of where trash belongs.
What the different plastic grades are and if they can be recycled
Below is a breakdown of the different grades of plastic and if they are recyclable. Keep in mind, this also depends on the recycling infrastructure of where you live. What items may be recyclable in one place may not be in another, so be to sure to check that out.
PET, PETE: Polyethylene Terephthalate
Examples: peanut butter and jam jars, soft drinks, water bottles, salad dressing bottles.
Easily recyclable
HDPE: High-Density Polyethylene
Examples: water pipes, grocery bags, plates, some shampoo bottles.
Examples: egg cartons, packing peanuts, disposable cups, and plates
Not recyclable
Other (often polycarbonate or ABS)
Examples: beverage bottles, baby milk bottles, glazing lenses, including sunglasses.
Not recyclable
The examples are only to give you some idea. In reality, you might want to check every product before discarding it as they can be differently packaged and graded.
Credits: content summarized by my colleague Mahasen via ‘Exactly what every plastic recycling symbol actually means‘.
What to do if you can’t recycle?
Not every area might have an accessible recycle bin, and not every kind of plastic can be recycled. So what can you do if you’re in a situation where you want to be more responsible about your waste instead of just discarding it in a bin?
Apart from the obvious answer of reducing or reusing them, you can also upcycle and bring out or develop your creative side!
Beverage bottles, painted over to be used as decorations by Noor.
Newspapers used for 3D Origami by Samrin Saleem.
Yogurt and juice powder containers converted into plant pots at my house.
A cereal box, repurposed into a miniature Foosball table for calm players by Samrin Saleem.
Coffee drink bottles, reused as holders for bracelets and bangles by Sanjiti.
What are some ways in which you repurpose products at your house which you can’t give away for recycling? Let me know in the comments so even other viewers can gain inspiration. If you found this post informative, don’t forget to share it with others and help everyone take more informed environmental choices.
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Purpose. Why Do You Want To Start One?
Negative news articles don’t always have negative consequences. Of course, that is when we speak in terms of the affects it has on the mind of a reader and not the subject of the news. And no, I’m not referring to activists and those who are already politically-interested either but those whose life exists completely outside political interests.
That boy used to be me. The summer of 2014, during the Islamic month of Ramadan, I was introduced to a great detail about the crisis in Palestine. I recall this event as a defining moment for me. It led to greater interest in politics and religion. Even though my focus, understanding, and knowledge was premature and questionable, the role news played at that time in my life was the very first domino that was pushed, setting off the rest of the trail, bringing us to now, which is still somewhere in the middle of falling dominoes.
What started as heavy research on comparative religion, responding to hate-speech on the then-existing social platform ‘Google+’, subsequently expanded further to posting for wider causes on Instagram, and for a good period of time was lost owing to my dedication to gaming and memes, but returned again around high-school and developed into a dedicated blog, among other things. The idea to start a blog was given by one of my followers so I can hold content better and reach out wider given the expiration and limited reach of Instagram.
At this point, I write on topics of teen relevance and can help readers in some way or add to discourse in a particular field (policy or social phenomena). I constantly try to explore different topics I could write on, take notes whenever an idea pops up and delete or expand on it, all to provide at least relatively unique insight and more importantly, content of value.
How should you begin blogging? What Should Be Your First Post?
When started, I began right away addressing one of my major achievements: winning the best delegate award in my very first Model UN conference (October 2017).
Many bloggers begin with why they’re blogging. I didn’t see anything productive in following suit. Not that it’s a bad idea, but depending on quality, it’s a make or break situation. Most readers will be interested in what you are offering instead of what you may offer. People have their own busy lives and will be more likely to read work that is offering value, instead of promising value, especially when they aren’t a close friend.
Perhaps you could smartly include your vision and future prospects as a mix with a first post that does offer value. When I started, I had no such prompt in mind. Inspired by Verse 81 of Chapter 17 in the Quran, “The Truth has come, and falsehood has vanished, for, falsehood is bound to vanish.”, my blog’s tagline remains “when truth and falsehood come together, falsehood is bound to perish.” since I started, and it could have been a topic to write on in the early days.
I eventually designed a logo for my blog too, but failed to use yet another important opportunity that I realised today. Logos can be very powerful, and hold so much meaning and so I redesigned mine with stronger purpose and message that I seek to reinforce via my blog. A series of starter posts could independently discuss each of these ideas and close off with a general link to the blog.
The Vigilant Mind Logo (2020), Self-Designed.
The top left image represents enlightenment. It reflects philosophical understanding, intellect, introspection, innovation, and contemplation.
The top right image represents the global community. It highlights the importance of addressing politics, human rights, social causes, equality, and other values like giving back to the community, protecting, standing up, and ensuring cohesiveness of social communities and the global society. It also reflects the importance I give to humanitarian and social issues above national-interests.
The bottom right image represents religion and education. The picture used is of a Quran to highlight the importance of religion in strengthening the other two quadrants and it’s role in my life. It also gives importance to education: whether attained by reading, listening, discourse, etc. Education refers mostly to applicable knowledge and not to years spent in school. More importantly, it refers to how much you strive to gain on your own accord beyond what is provided and asked from you.
The bottom left image represents freedom and power. Primarily this freedom is meant to signify freedom from your own boundaries, mental health recovery, self-help, and unleashing your true potential. The breaking into freedom also shows destruction of harmful stigmas and unfair societal limitations and freedom from brainwashing, and unchallenged harmful traditional norms.
If opportunities don’t knock on your door, go out there and find them
The cherry on the top, or rather, the blue brain that covers it all, refers to you as an independent person with your own unique life, goals, purpose, skills that are different from others but yet valued. The overlapping of the brain signifies the use of intellectual capacities to strive in the path of purpose. These five elements define the purpose of my blog.
You’re Set for Starters!
Defining why you want to start a blog and how you want to start is step one. Once you figure this out, have a defining story that explains why you do what you do, even if that story is not shared as a blog post. Like mine, which is in the ‘about’ page and as a side column on the home page but not an independently standing post. It will act as a strong motivating factor.
With that being said, make sure you emotionally connect to what you blog about and are able to show your audience that you connect with them too. Without these, even if you do manage to start off strong, chances of growth under normal circumstances remain slim.
I’ll also discuss a few of the next steps but not in detail to avoid this post being too lengthy.
What’s Next?
Decide whether you want to start your own blog or contribute to an existing blog / magazine. If it’s the former, decide what platform you wish to use.
Designing! Make your interface friendly, and easy to understand. Most blog creating platforms have the designing process easy so that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
Constantly take personal notes. Whenever you find inspiration or a rough idea, note it down so you don’t forget it and can explore it later when you’re free.
Interact with more people. Attend events. Make friends. Expand your professional network. This helps spread your blog and in developing various skills and access to resources.
Learn SEO and other means to make your content appear in searches.
You can start your wordpress blog with a head start by clicking here. As a first year buyer, WordPress already gives you a domain for one year free of cost and with this link you can secure another $25 discount!
Lastly, know that this field is unstable and needs perseverance. Keep trying. Keep taking feedback and finding ways to improve and by time you’ll be shooting high.
What do you think about the new logo? What do you interpret from it? Share your thoughts as well and let everyone explore other perspectives.
If you do not have anything good to speak, then do not speak at all. If you are not sure about something, then do not speak either, just say “I don’t know”.
Good day readers,
The author’s heart was deeply hurt after seeing a certain circulation of posts and stories on social media, more of a hoax and misinterpretation by other popular pages- much that of cyber-bullying and group-attack.
Coming to the incident, there is an account by the name of @dogs_right_protection on instagram which posted a series of videos of dogs being abused, the internet took this as an opportunity to start a mass report movement against the account and an upsurge against it arose.
However, what these movements did not touch upon is that the description of the page had a number, which certain people who wanted to confirm the stories report as a number for an animal shelter which the account owner ran. Furthermore, the account’s videos did not portray the admin beating the dogs, rather, random people in Iran doing it for the purpose of attracting attention and followers so he could promote his dog shelter. The sole aim was to create awareness against animal abuse. The admin was nothing but an animal rights supporter.
This just shows how flawed the judgement of modern society has become- mainly teenagers. People just went around without confirming the admin’s intentions or anything of the sort, solely based on the content of the videos in the account, defaming it.
Whereas the poor guy was just trying to help us out, help the animals, and ran an animal shelter.
Moreover, the admin did release a post clarifying the issue and apologizing for his English as he is Iranian, (it is assumed he used google translate or relied on the little English he knew)
Upon that, people bombarded the comments with hate and insults saying he does know English and he is doing nothing but pretence.
This provides for the aptest example about how dangerous quick judgement can be, and how toxic it’s results are. Who knows what the admin must be going through now, already adding up to the conditions in Iran.
I urge you all to please look at both sides of the coin and to confirm the incidents first before you forward anything. Do not blindly, without full knowledge, forward anything that you have not witnessed or done ample research on already.
Do not pursue or believe that of which you have no knowledge, and do not forward information that comes to you before you investigate it yourself.
Only dead fish go with the flow.
This article is seemingly very important, if you find apt, please do forward and spread awareness on the stated issue(s).
Thank you.
Have you ever had or noticed any situation in life where you saw quick judgement as harmful? If yes, do share with us in the comments!
Source: University of Maine at Fort Kent
Here’s a sample of my Cornell Note-taking on Notion
My Google Calendar Set-Up – Includes Classes, Events, Deadlines & Misc. Tasks
Here’s a sample of the interface of a workspace created by my peer Manaswi Madichetty – 3rd year – Finance major, and modified by me. 
The Cornell Notes method is also integrated into the Notion Course modules in this template! 
Within each course module.
Photo by Sarah Chai on Pexels.com
The Vigilant Mind Logo (2020), Self-Designed.