Challenging Drill Questions [4] / Solutions [5]"If I have seen yonder, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." This statement only spells half-truths with reference to the ultimate grading of students. If a student is able to do nothing else, except to drill well and consequently, score well. Then I am afraid that student will not do well in life. The student would be better off just by learning a basic technical skill and work hard for the rest of his/her remaining life. But, we are dealing with very intelligent beings here, the homo sapiens specie. Scientists had all along deduced that our human brains are 40% too big. Even the earth's most ferocious predator, the lion, king of the jungle, has brain that is in much smaller proportion than that of the human specie. What then contributes to this evolutionary misnomer? The answer lies in the fact that although we, the humans, are at the top of the food chain and we don't have much natural enemies, but yet, we are our own worst enemies. It is this constant fear of our neighbours that our brains grow bigger and bigger through natural selection (the evolution theory). It is natural that humans with bigger neural faculties are better adept to avoid danger from his neighbours. This greatly increases their chance of survival and as a result, their number increases. Recently, scientists also dwell in the all important issue of nature versus nurture, a Cambridge scientist concluded that the human brain is much more sophisticated than we think it is. Instead of suggesting that we are born more or less capable than our neighbours, he suggested that the human brain is born very versatile, the natural mind is built with adaptors to take advantage of his environment. This explains why a child born of a street cabbie can still ace the exams and do well in life, while a child born of wealthy origin may still fall by the way-side. Or a child with limited education can still build wealth beyond their wildest dreams, at the same time, a child with rich disposition and education, still wondering what to do next (Here I chose wealth as a measure for success, of course, one can choose other measures, but it should not affect the outcome of case study). Since we can find great examples on both sides of education, does this argument lead to simply the conclusion that we don't need education? The answer is obviously no and quite the opposite. The Cambridge scientist concluded that the nurture part of the child is more significant. We thus need education ever more. The question remains how best we should know it. Education is about learning what our predecessors have discovered. It would be silly if one would deny education and go on his own way to uncover the very same facts that his predecessors have learnt. Education for that reason is the shortest path to success. By knowing and learning well what is already known, one now has the luxury to spend the rest of his time to uncover new truths and be better (i.e., a long-winded way of restating Newton's quote). This challenging drill questions / solutions set is meant for direct use by students preparing for the exams. A sky diver repeatedly jumps to achieve precision and agility. A fighter pilot repeatedly flies his aircraft to co-ordinate his attack sequence and mission completion. A general of the army frequently conducts paper and ground exercises to prepare for that possible eventuality that the country might go into war. Yet, through these all, no one laughs at their doggedness but instead, praises their fervours. When we come to students drilling for exams, the students were laughed off as nerds and geeks, something 'uncool'. This is not right. It came as no surprises that Mr Bill Gates, Microsoft, the current youngest and richest billionaire, said once that the nerds and geeks will rule the world.
version 1.01 |