To Memorize, or Not to Memorize?
What is learning? Is it memorizing “an isolated fact through deliberate effort”? Or is it “a process of logical discovery and thoughtful exploration”?
This is how Ben Orlin contrasts memorization of facts with in-depth learning in his article, When Memorization Gets in the Way of Learning. Orlin, a teacher in California, believes that there are few reasons why children should still be rote learning in today’s classrooms. Of course, in some cases, memorization has a place in education, such as learning by heart your multiplication tables or the alphabet. He acknowledges that “a head full of facts — even memorized facts — is better than an empty one”.
However, he argues that learning facts of any kind by heart, without any context or meaning (which he terms as ‘raw rehearsal’), can prevent students from truly engaging in the subject at hand. Perhaps, it might even rob them of the opportunity to find an interest or passion within that subject.
It seems that the most obvious reasons why memorization is the chosen methodology by both students and teachers are time-constraints and grades.
Students may memorize facts simply to pass exams and because it takes less effort than to solve a concept they don’t understand. Lacking motivation, they revert to the all-too-familiar scenario of cramming the night before the exam, with little hope of retaining the information thereafter. Even if they are interested in a subject, students may still choose memorization over studying thoroughly. After all, they know it’s unlikely that they will be tested on the full curriculum.
Teachers are pressured to set class tests that call for short, fact-based answers, because of restrictions on lesson time and on the time it takes for them to grade all the papers. If teachers choose more leading, probing test questions, they need more class time, and more time to mark the answers. If they can’t get more class time, they will be unable to test all sections of the work.
One solution put forward is the “cheat sheet”. Students are allowed to bring a page of notes into their exams, so that rather than spending time trying to remember individual facts and formulas, they can get straight into demonstrating their actual knowledge and comprehension of the question. Of course, that also means that test questions should indeed be more challenging.
While there may be a place for it in school, Orlin quips that memorizing information is better suited to “addresses, PINs [and] your parents’ birthdays”. What do you think?
