Evening star., 1961-01-30

are going to ask you to &C
cept in its place Q simple but
revolutionary truth:
You can consciously con-
troll the operations Of your
brain Just Is you can control
the speed and direction Of
your automobile. -
In World War II the Air
Force psychologists proved
that you can learn to see
more in a shorter span Of
time. By flashing pictures
on screens they trained pilots
to take in q fantastic NUM-
Der Of details In the wink Of
an eye and to describe them
accurately. u
Similarly, the Navy. expert
menting in its radio schools,
proved that operators could
develop accurate receiving
ability to the point where Q
sentence Of Morse code was
almost q blur of sound.
Several years ago, q Long
Beach (Calif.) man, Thur
man Wade, enrolled In o
speed reading class at the
Business and Technology Di-
vision Of Long Beach City
College.
Average reading speed for
college graduates and busi-
ness executives Is about 260
words q minute. BY conscious
effort Mr.. Wade hiked his
speed to $50 words q minute
in q few weeks. Presently he
was reading 800, 1900 and
then 1900 words q minute.
At cruising speeds he could
swish through q 400-page
volume in one hour. When
last heard from, Mr.. Wade
had pushed his reading speed
to the 6,100-word-per-minute
mark and was at the point Of
going into orbit. ar
But does he understand
what he reads?
Yes. Tests show that as q
fast reader his understanding
has increased.
Although MFR. Wade's case
Is unusual, speed-reading
teachers know that with
proper training most persons
can double their reading
speed and increase their COM
prehension 10 to so per cent.
We are less concerned
here with the mechanics of
the thing than with the fact
that such improvement is
possible by conscious effort.
You CAN change your speed.
You CAN improve your un-
derstanding of what you
read.
Fast and Accurate
Joe was a student in an
intermediate algebra class.
He had troubles. He brought
them to what we shall de-
scribe informally as DR.. Ma
sons Clinic for Tagging
School Children.
His third-grade teacher had
told him to choose between
slow and accurate or fast
and inaccurate. Since he had
chosen to be slow and accu-
rate, he now found It i'm.
possible to finish tests within
the time allowed. He feared
that any change in his rate of
work would produce disas-
trous results.
Look, Joe, you're producing
disastrous results anyway"
we pointed out, $50 why not
try the alternative that wasn't
suggesed to you? Try to be
both fast AND accurate"
This was awful heresy. but
Joe was ready to try any
thing.
What do I do?"
when you're working
Slow and accurate does
your mind ever have space
left over to think about other
things?"
He admitted that when he
worked slowly he tended to
daydream.
"All right then. The point
Is to make your mind and
your pencil work so fast that
there's no time or space In
your brain for daydreaming."
We gave him o test COM
parable to one in which pre-
viously he had completed IL
problems (nine correctly In
SO minutes. This time. con.
sciously trying to speed up
his brain, he finished 20
problems in 40 minutes and
got l8 right. t.g
Presented with proof Of the
marvellous new theory that
speed and accuracy do 60 to-
gether. Joe started getting
his algebra done on time.
Haste makes waste" :" i.
"Slow but sure"
Those old sayings. dignity
ing slowness, are mere ex-
cuses for plodding.
The truth is that you can
control your thinking hab-
its and. by controlling them,
tremendously improve your
learning.
Tomorrow: Ten Stems 10 Better Grnda,