DrDon,

All things being equal, people will learn things better when they are interested in them. What we get out of education is related to what we put into it. We should pursue what we will be passionate about. Making a database of unfamiliar words is a worthwhile habit, perhaps taking the place of just writing out a definition and using it in a sentence, or making a flash card. 65,000 seems quite an extensive vocabulary in any language. With about how many of them do you suppose you have functional command?