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View Full Version : Say What? The Value of Memorization



The Comedian
03-30-2011, 01:54 PM
Is memorization a valuable skill for students to develop as they progress through their education? And if so, how is its importance weighted against associated skills such as creativity, analytical thought, critical analysis. . .

Lokasenna
03-30-2011, 03:36 PM
Is memorization a skill or a talent?

I'm extremely lucky in that regard, as I have an exceptional memory for words. If I read something, and it makes an impact upon me, I'm able to remember it - my party piece, for example, is to recite the general prologue to the Canterbury Tales, something I was able to do after only having read it a couple of times. The flipside is that I have an abominable short term memory, and no skill with names or faces. I've never knowingly trained myself, it just seems to be the way my mind works.

As for whether it is useful, that depends on context. It has certainly helped me in closed-book exam situations. But to be honest, that's about it - in most situations you'll have the requisite text in front of you, and at that point the ability to analyse and argue comes to the fore. A good memory is a useful attribute, but it is hardly necessary.

Buh4Bee
03-30-2011, 08:40 PM
Memory places a vital part of our everyday life. It is extremely important to learn how to memorize many things from basic spelling to rote tasks at a job. Yes, make them memorize the text or poem. Make them sweat a little bit.

L.M. The Third
03-30-2011, 09:58 PM
I rated it important, but memorizing a words - poetry, scripture or speeches - is a pleasure to me, and therefore quickly done. But using my memory for something like mathematics is ten times harder, so probably all the more important.

JuniperWoolf
03-31-2011, 09:27 PM
In my line of education, memorization is pretty much everything. Science is all about an accumulation of information that other people have gathered about the natural world, so until you're in a position to gather new information you get to just focus on cramming old information into your brain (I'm mostly into ecology, so memorizing systems is especially important, eg. how various fungi reproduce - there's no room for creativity there, you just learn about how things do what they do). Creativity doesn't really count for anything at this point, although I'm told that it's crucial when we get jobs, because innovation leads to new things being discovered (apparently). The exception is math, where analytical thought counts for a lot. Every problem that you encounter in math hasn't been covered in exact detail by the instructor, you've got to apply rules that you've learned previously to new situations. It's hard. Man, I suck at math.

Anyway, I think it's different for each area of study. Memory isn't as important in poetry analysis as it is in science or linguistics and rational thought and creativity probably don't factor into history very much.

Writer10
07-15-2011, 06:54 AM
Memorization plays an important role when you have ACTUALLY understood the material.There is no use of memorization if you haven't paid attention to the details and just crammed up all the things!

Mutatis-Mutandis
07-15-2011, 09:01 AM
I'm really surprised by the results of this poll so far. I have never seen any evidence that suggests memorization is a more useful, important, or relevant skill set than things such as what Comedian listed (creativity, analytical thought, critical thinking skills, etc.). Like every student, I was made to memorize things for tests and what-not, and you know how useful it was? Not at all. I memorized whatever it was for the test, and then whatever it was vanished from my mind completely. Being taught ideas, concepts, and actually thinking about something is where real knowledge building occurs. What's more important: knowing the reasons, context, and ramifications of the US civil war (or any war for that matter), or knowing the dates of every significant event and battle, and the names of every key figure? To me, the answer is clear.

Though, what does one mean by memorization? When I think "memorization," I'm thinking strictly rote memorization--stuff like learning to name all fifty states, memorizing dates of certain historical events, the names of all the presidents, etc. I don't think of knowing how to do a job or keeping in mind what one has to do during the day as memorization--that's just using your memory like everyone else.

Just recently, while i was observing a freshmen English class, they spent a lot of time memorizing 60+ prepositions. It seems an immense waste of time.

OrphanPip
07-16-2011, 02:16 PM
Like Juni said, memorization is important in the biological sciences. Analytical understandings are important as well though. One should be able to apply what we know about natural selection to multiple organisms. Also, a proper understanding of the rules of organic chemistry can allow you to go beyond just knowing which reactions occur in the cell and understand why and how the reactions work the way they do. Biology is an incredibly multidisciplinary science, since you need chemistry, physics, and math to truly understand it. Haldane said that biology without evolution is stamp collecting, but modern biology's true core is in chemistry.

zoolane
07-16-2011, 03:35 PM
As whole I think it is important to able to recall certain facts of subject or person. Yes also in regards of poetry or lanuage or literature text can make different in your view of the topic.

Me personal I have weird thing were I watch lots different types of programmes from docu to film to lifestyle. I will watch quiz programme and I will know answer but can not recall were it came from.