The Importance of Your Involvement
Don’t for a minute underestimate the importance of yourcommitment
to your child’s success. Your involvement in your child’s education is
absolutely essential. The results of every study done in the last two
decades clearly confirm the single factor that overwhelmingly affects
a student’s success in school: your involvement—not money, great
teachers, a bigger gym, or weekly dance classes. Yo u.
So please, take the time to read this book (and all of the others in the
series). Learn what your kids shouldbe learning (and which of the
other subject-specific books in the series your child needs the most).
And you can help tremendously, even if you were not a great student
yourself, even if you never learned great study skills. You can learn now
with your child—not only will it help him or her in school, it will help
youon the job, whatever your field.
If You’re a Nontraditional Student
If you’re going back to high school, college, or graduate school at age
25, 45, 65, or 85—you probably need the help in How to Studymore
than anyone! Why? Because the longer you’ve been out of school,
the more likely you don’t remember what you’ve forgotten. And
you’ve forgotten what you’re supposed to remember! As much as
I emphasize that it’s rarely too early to learn good study habits, I must
also emphasize that it’s never too late.
What You Won’t Find in This Book
I’ve seen so-called study books spend chapters on proper nutrition,
how to dress, how to exercise, and a number of other topics that are
notcovered at allin How to Study,except for this briefest of acknowl-
edgments: It is an absolute given that diet, sleep, exercise, and the
use of drugs (including alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine) will affect your
studying, perhaps significantly.
xiv How to Study