My students are worried about their test next week. More so, because they don’t have to memorize anything and the exam is based on the real world application of key concepts. That’s a little bit of a curve ball, as most of their high school education and early college years have focused on rote memorization.
The irony is that they have to now adapt to a new way of learning, and thinking, and applying concepts in a real world setting. They have to shift the way they learn, process, and assimilate information — out with the old, in with the new.
I see my high school junior son memorizing definitions and concepts, whether he understands them or not. It is not the fault of the students. They have been conditioned to memorize and forget and, again, memorize and forget.
How about challenging our educators to teach our children to think, and understand and apply and learn — not for higher grades, but as a way of enriching their lives.
We should borrow a page from the Montessori way of teaching, where the materials capture the imagination of these preschoolers and build in them a love of the world around them.
Anyone can memorize and forget — even a parrot.
About Hemant Rustogi
I agree with you Dr. Rustogi and have held this opinion for quite some time. It is unfortunate that this type of thinking is not typically encouraged or expected until one is in a higher education setting. I see this lack of problem solving not only in our younger students but in our workforce today. In addition, we as parents today tend to do so much more for our children than our parents did for us, that we deprive them of seeking solutions on their own. We have every device available at our finger tips to look up or seek information and yet we haven’t engaged our brain in the problem solving process. Hats off to you for challenging your students to think and apply their knowledge to real world situations. They will thank you for it for many years to come!