Toil, Repeat, Rehash – (PIP #107)

By Louise Peloquin

     Pop quizzes, tests and exams are punctuating student days as the school year comes to an end. This is a time to reflect upon how one can “learn well.”

The learning tips provided in the following editorial are not outdated. Furthermore, clear writing and correct spelling in any language have always been challenging for students young and old including for yours truly!

L’Etoile – January 23, 1926

IN ORDER TO LEARN WELL

     In the Figaro we find (1) the following excellent reflections. They are dedicated to studious youth and to teachers:

     “It is not at the age of 18 that good intellectual habits are formed; it is between 7 and 12. Fifty-year-olds have all had those excellent elementary school teachers who pursued their noble profession with so much passion that they managed to teach spelling which, of course, is not sufficient but is nonetheless indispensable and is a proof of intellectual solidity. Why, yes why do young people in 1925 not know how to spell? That is the anguishing question that I very respectfully ask the Minister of Public Education. Oh that he not create a commission to investigate the issue!

     We should make the effort to reflect that human beings do not know what they learn; that in order to learn it is necessary to toil, to repeat, to rehash. Yes, if you have not learned the rules by heart … if that child within you has not leapt with pride, after having navigated all of the pitfalls to succeed in producing that masterpiece which is a perfect dictation, you will never experience one of the greatest joys of learning.” (2)

****

1. First presented as a “journal littéraire”, Le Figaro was named after “The Marriage of Figaro”, Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais’s five-act comedy written in 1778. It began as a single sheet printed on January 15, 1826 and became a daily in 1866. Its motto is a line from the play: “Without the freedom to criticize, there is no flattering praise.” Its content includes coverage of the arts, sciences, lifestyle, national and international news, economics and politics. Over 400,500 paper copies of Le Figaro are distributed daily, making it France’s second-largest newspaper after Le Monde. More than 245,100,000 readers pay it an online “visit” every day.
2. Translation by Louise Peloquin.