Bored of reading the science theories? Running out of steam going through hundreds of years of political history? Don’t complain, do something!

There are so many subjects that have gained a somewhat less than positive reputation through dated resources, limited vision on the pupil’s part and unimaginative classes on the teachers’ part, the words “mission: impossible” could very well spring to mind when one considers getting through the mountains of revision required for exams.

But we really don’t make things easy for ourselves…

Given the amount of obligatory time they spend in school each week, it is a wonder why teachers and pupils alike are not pulling out the stops to make their 9 to 5 more interesting; it can be done! Here we give you a quick guide to lighten up even the most tiresome of subjects. Sure, we cannot make every aspect to every subject fun (they don’t call it work for nothing!) but we can at least try to inspire you, to give you a goal and some passion for your work – something which will without a doubt give you the necessary energy to pull through the tough stuff. Read ahead and find yourself inspired…

Science
Be it chemistry, biology or physics, a description of the sciences doesn’t often include the word “fun”. Sure, there’s a lot of formulae and theory to learn (so much so you may feel like you are learning a new language!) but don’t be disheartened, it is learnable! You just have to think about the rewards it can bring - doing well in the sciences proves to potential employers that you can think logically and analytically, follow instruction and learn from scratch. There’s some things in life for which you have to graft. Assuming you are not a science lover (in which case you need not read this paragraph!), learning the sciences is one of them. The great thing about school level science is that you don’t have to possess natural scientific skills to pass; it is just a case of learning the necessary and getting the answer onto the paper. Unlike with the arts (English for example), science questions are normally either right or wrong. Learning the right answers is not a skill you have to hone; it’s something you can do with a little application (and perhaps a little caffeine too). The data may seem daunting when reading it from a textbook (amongst all those Greek letters and graphs) but copy it down yourself - in some fancy felt pens perhaps - and it will suddenly look a lot more friendly. Find out what you need to know to pass your exam and learn it. Establishing what you need to know and more importantly, what you don’t need to know, is one of the best plans of action you can take for passing a science exam. Our advice is to find out what’s necessary, make yourself a check list, get your head down and learn! So what you forget it all the minute after the invigilator tells the hall to put pens down? As long as you aren’t planning on a science career, the good exam result is all you need. All employers want adaptable employees, those who can apply themselves to any task and do well. Demonstrating you have capacity with the sciences is a great way to get this trait tagged to you.

English
English is divided into two parts. There’s the part you can learn - exactly in the same way you learn the science stuff - which is grammar. And, there’s the part you develop - that is your creativity.

English language is something to which you can apply theory. You remember the grammar guides and you look for patterns in the comprehension activities - do past papers normally ask you to show how X is conveyed in a text? Then look up typical demonstrations of X and remember them for your exam!

English literature - its interpretation and creativity has a different route to success. It is something which you need to develop and can require a little more than parrot like repetitions. Read guides and be inspired by what interests you. There is no wrong answer in creative tasks…but there are bad answers! Avoid clichés and don’t necessarily follow the crowd. Get interested. It may be that you don’t like the text the class chooses to read but this shouldn’t dishearten you, go choose one of your own. Think about what you would like to read then go read it. Think about why you liked reading it and try incorporating these aspects into your own work - and do the necessary background research! Perhaps you like reading thrillers (whilst your class has chosen a 19th century classic)…think about why you like the thrillers - is it because they leave you in suspense? Always making you want to read more? Or is it because you can relate to the base situation more - they’re about high school students in normal neighbourhoods, not the gentlemen on horseback of 200 years ago galloping around their 50 mile estates. Whatever aspect it may be that hooks you, bring it in! For the suspense lovers, research chilling words in the thesaurus (your ideas should come naturally, just let your imagination run wild). Looking up the words before the exam will help your text be the most colourful and interesting it can be…

Art
If you’re not good then practise! Maybe you think of art as a secondary subject but always bear in mind that the more strings to your bow, the more attractive you are to employers. Originality is key - you don’t need to be able to paint like Van Gogh, just keep it simple but always interesting. Imagine how many “Bowl of Fruit” paintings your art teacher has seen…think about how you can make it different (alternative colours maybe…) and do it!

History
Take an interest in your history – everything that’s happened affects where you are today. There are facts to learn yes – but always consider the people making the facts are human – with opinions, beliefs and reasons for bias. Consider these – it is almost like gossip! Why people did something and with what motive…Learn the facts and think about why they happened and you’ll be on your way to writing a great history essay. The one thing to always consider – be thorough in your considerations…bear in mind every fact about the fact in hand affects its motive and authenticity – what’s the source? When was it written? Who by? Analyse these features and you’ll come to the right conclusions without a doubt.

Maths
The Hard One. Maths has a bad reputation - for being difficult, dull and inapplicable to everyday life. Well, the truth is: it can be difficult, it can be dull and there are definitely parts which are inapplicable to everyday life. What else is true is that it can be easy, it can be interesting and it can be applicable to a huge variety of situations. And the best way to make it easy, interesting and applicable is to put effort in. Like the sciences, it requires some graft; like the arts it requires some creativity…it really is an enthralling subject once you understand it. It can be applied to everything from philosophy to banking. Take the interesting aspects and run with them; once you’re inspired, you won’t want to stop. There really is something enormously satisfying about proving a theorem or getting through a tough problem. It’s wonderful how everything just “works out”… So what can you apply maths to? Read history! It even goes back to the deep and dark questions such as “The Meaning of Life”. On a less deep level, does money making take your fancy? Gaming… playing the likes of poker? A game of poker online could sure be a lot more profitable should you have some mathematical skill to back it up with. Learn the theories and see yourself reap the rewards!

Foreign Languages
Ok, so conjugating verbs over and over (and over) if never fun. But think about where it can take you – anything from a job in the sun to a cross continent road trip (doing it cheaply, using options such as London hostel for example) to the enjoyment of a new genre of film! Once you have got through the basic stage, you will already be constructing your own sentences – and once you get to this point, you’re ready for a holiday – a chance to enjoy your new skills and see them in action. It may be you don’t want to work specifically with foreign languages in the future (as a translator say) but being able to communicate in a language different to your native one opens up the job market for you n-fold…think, whatever job you’d go for at home, you could also go for in the country whose language you have learnt – a great advantage, especially to those wanting to enter a competitive sector (marketing for example) – you can get the experience abroad and then come back home with a great CV, ready to get your job!

No matter what you do in school, at this level, all can be learnt. Yes you need graft but the rewards are worth it. Just start! It may seem like a daunting task at first but once you’ve got through the first page, you’ll be on a roll, believe us!

Today’s century education is the most important thing to do especially for those young people to know the world better. Parents should be responsible enough to send their children to school and finance their needs. Even though it’s hard for those parents but it’s their responsibility to do that to your children. To send your children to school is best for them so that they will definitely learn the things that are not familiar to them for the first time. That’s the time indeed that your children will also have the responsibility to pursue their study until they will finish it. Some of the students feel bored when sometimes parents never support them financially. That’s why few of them are absent minded to pursue college because of their parents. Through education, children must now able to write and speak even to read. It is sad to say that there are many children who are not able to write or to read since there are parents who can’t afford to send for them in school. Like in the country of Africa, you can see children at the street carrying heavy loads for leaving. While children from across the country, study in very expensive school with the support from their parents.

Parents should be the one to inspire their children to study, so that children would have the interest to study well. But before you send your children to any school; parents should be the first teacher who will educate first their children especially with right manner. When the times that you’re children are in school then they already know the basics things to do. But there are some parents who are dependent on what the school teacher taught their children. In fact parents are obliged to review their respective children’s work. But by the time that your children feel bored to attend the classes do not force them because it’s usual that there are times they feel lazy. But you as parents to your child do not just talk something bad since your child will imitate the word that came from your mouth. Especially to those little kids who was just starting their nursery. Patience is very important to those parents who has kids ages six and above. It’s not easy to have little kids since many kids are naughty but through education they will be trained well and they can act as normal kids. That is the power of education.

Education is not only for kids but also for adult. Some college universities offer classes for those who take vocational courses. It means that students will study a course for only two years or three years, but still they are still considered as professionals just like the students who took the four years course. On the other hand college students are obliged to choose the course that suits them. Before planning to pursue a college life be clever and think it carefully.

FOR decades now, there has long been a clash between popular culture and academics. Even to this day, popular culture movie critic Roger Ebert’s views are being underestimated by film professors as too shallow. I beg to disagree because even though professors have the technical know-how, they don’t have the means to connect their findings to the people so that the people can be warned and would know how to maximize progress in the world in their own little ways.

Consider this – there’s a new finding by a Johns Hopkins research team about the causes of liver cancer and they published the results of their research at the New England Journal of Medicine. Although this publication is available nationwide and can easily be accessed through the web, many people do not usually read it because they are turned off by the highly technical terms the doctors use. But since the topic is very important because it concerns the health of the people, this is now the job of popular culture to disseminate the information and educate the masses in a more readable way.

The most common popular culture media include paintings, movies, music and novels. I can name two movies which are being used as instructional materials at West Point. One is Clear and Present Danger which has an accurate portrayal on how a squad of Special Forces is inserted into another country to conduct an operation there. In this case here, the country portrayed is Colombia. The other movie is Tears of the Sun. Ably directed by French-American visionary Antoine Fuqua, Tears of the Sun is hailed by both the Defense Department and CIA for a very accurate portrayal of how a search and rescue military mission is being carried out.

A medium can also be an educational means to another end. There is one Australian painter I know who sells his paintings in Brazil and Europe to raise funds for football training of children in Perth. We already have discussed about scientific publications, movies and paintings. Let’s now focus towards music. In music, there are two things which make a track educational – the music itself and the lyric of the music. And then there are movies which merge music into their system. This is also one educational tool. One of the best releases this year is La Vie en Rose which is a biography of the great French singer Edith Piaf. Piaf herself is the star of the soundtrack. Through the movie and the soundtrack, we can learn about French music in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the recent 50th Grammy Awards, the biggest winner was Amy Winehouse. Even though the singer is British, Amy Winehouse’s hit Rehab was a runaway hit in the United States because a lot of young people can relate to it because they are hooked on drugs one way or the other. Whether it be movies, music or advertising, popular culture remains a vital educational tool in our society today.