Practice makes.... perfect?

Hello dear friends, its been awhile! Thanks for tagging. Here's something i would like to share with you before i go for my university camp!


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I was giving out class work one day in literature class when one student asked me a question:

''Why do we need to do homework at all? why do we need to practice?"

Without giving it much thought, i answered "Because practice makes perfect". Now, i gave the student this answer due to a few reasons. Namely, I REALLY believed that practice makes perfect. I always believe in doing things a 100%, and more. Second, like many of you here reading this Blog post, this phrase ''practice makes perfect'' has been ingrained into my mind for YEARS, ever since i was in primary school. By teachers , tutors and perhaps even family members. Do you remember how irritating it was when teachers, after giving you maths homework, chanted relentlessly on various occasions, that ''practice makes perfect?"

And so, not surprisingly, the student retorted ''But NOTHING is perfect!", an answer used by many students to throw their parents or teachers off the line.

Now, many teachers might have brushed this small incident aside. But after the lesson, i went back thinking and pondering about it. In actual fact, this student had asked a REALLY GOOD QEUSTION.

After leaving the school, i learnt that practice doesnt really make perfect. (yes, students, you may clap now, but perhaps you might want to read on first before cheering silently). BUT WHY?

Let me give you an example here. Imagine me, at the age of 13, someone who had just failed her PSLE maths, and was now suffering from MATHEMATICS PHOBIA. Having failed many times, I decided to practice maths everyday, for at least 5 hours. However, i did not dare to approach anybody for help ( being afraid that teachers will think that im stupid). However, when i received my first test, i realised that i STILL DID NOT DO WELL.

WHY?

Because i have been practicing all the wrong things. Despite doing all the sums wrong, i didnt realise and continue to practice, DOING THEM ALL WRONG, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!. And hence, over time , i got used to repeating my mistakes, thinking that they were right, but in actual fact, they were NOT.

and therefore, instead of saying that ''practice makes perfect'', we should say that

PRACTICE MAKES PERMANANT.

This means that no matter you are right or wrong, once you practice it again and again, it will STAY IN YOUR BRAIN. If you practice the right things or the right subjects, for example, when you write an essay or do a maths sum and you did it in the right way or the correct method becuase you dare to ask or verify with your mentor, the RIGHT METHOD will stay in your BRAIN (if you practice it enough). HOWEVER, if you practice the wrong things OVER AND OVER AGAIN, it will stay in your brain and during exams, all the wrong stuff would also be written on the papers.

confused? good. read on.

When you practice the wrong things you will of course write the wrong things on the exam paper. will you still get PERFECT results? (ok, maybe PERFECTLY WRONG results)

so, all my dear friends,

PRACTICE MAKES PERMANANT. Yes, practice DOES makes perfect, only when you practice things in a PERFECT MANNER, then you will get perfect results. That is something that i've learnt, and hope to share with you. =) And to the student who asked me this question, thank you for allowing me to learn as well!