Memorize. That’s the advice I’ve gotten from older friends on how to do well in a class. Just memorize the equation, theory, rules, laws, names, constants, facts, dates— you name it, the solution, most of the time, to “learning” has just been memorizing whatever the teacher has told you to. A professor recently told me that I and all other students expect to be told what to memorize in order to do well in a class, whether we know it or not, and when we’re not told what we need to memorize, we are uncomfortable. I don’t think I ever really thought about it, but she is extremely right. When I haven’t had a clear understanding of what to study (and by this I mean what information to repeatedly look at and process in order to cram it into my brain), it has been because there wasn’t anything to necessarily memorize for the test or quiz that I was preparing for, and that caused me major anxiety and stress. But there is no one formula or fact or law to memorize that will help me to succeed in life and adulthood when it sadly and inevitably comes.
This is problematic, to say the least. Firstly because it isn’t useful in the real world. It doesn’t matter if I know the Nernst equation to get a job in most fields just as it will not help that I once knew all fifty states and capitals for me to fill out a W-2 form. Putting the focus on simply memorizing facts takes away from true problem solving and critical thinking. Memorizing how to conjugate verbs in the preterite in Spanish didn’t help me to learn how to speak it fluently, now I just know what ending to add to words that mean nothing to me.
This also means success in school is often not based on pure creativity or intelligence but instead one’s ability to remember what a teacher wants you to. I feel like if someone isn’t good at math or science, they are seen as less intelligent, but if one doesn’t excel in music or art it just “isn’t their thing.” I’m not convinced by the idea that there is only one kind of smart person out there, and that person being someone who is good at math or science or whatever is necessary to succeed in school. I don’t agree with the argument that there is no value in someone’s GPA or success in school, but I will say that I don’t think that someone’s worth is all determined on a 4.0 scale.
As I get older, I realize that to really learn takes more than memorizing the notes my professor wrote on a chalkboard or went over in a powerpoint. Memorizing all of Waltz’s aspects of realist international relations theory is completely different from understanding them and applying them to case studies. But I hate that I discovered this so late in my life, that for so long I got ahead by repeating information enough to be able to spit it back out on a scantron and then forget it once the test was over.
This problem makes me wonder how we got here. How did we end up with an educational system that prioritizes memorization of facts over exploration in a field? And looking forward, how do we change it?
