Buy essay on In Support of “In Defense of Memorization”

The main idea of the article presented by M. Beran is that memorization and rote learning did not lose their currency nowadays. He claims that in spite of the new trends of constructivism the rote learning is still topical. It is very difficult to contradict him, as he advances very well-grounded arguments. Rote learning is a “term for fixing information to your memory through sheer repetition” (Fleming). The modern pedagogics treats this method of memorizing the material as insufficient and even unhealthy one. It is viewed very often as bad practice, however some other people, like M. Beran claim the contrary. Rote learning is very often considered as the necessary step in learning some subjects. Thus, for example a small child learns letters and numbers not yet comprehending that he or she needs it and all the more why it is necessary. The lack of understanding is not that important in this case. The memorization is just a first step in the process of cognizing the world. The future development and education is impossible without it, as rote learning provides a deep and strong foundation for everything that will be learnt further. The understanding of the essence of the leant material will come later and all knowledge will arrange in mind. Understanding usually follows later, but without basic knowledge learnt by memorization it will not come, because it is impossible to understand something you do not know. In this case rote learning cannot be excluded, as a child may realize that it is necessary to know the letters of the alphabet being already not that young. Besides the concept of the rote learning and the essence of it is much deeper than it may seem at first. Thus, repeating several lines of verse, children do not only learn the poem. The impact and the positive side of this memorizing are more profound. These constant repetitions deliver a person unique cognitive benefits. Thus, learning a poem by heart a boy or a girl can learn about something that he or she did not know before, get interested in it and broaden horizons of worldview. If a poem is only read but not learnt, the important ideas it contains will not linger in a child’s mind and therefore will not find realization in life. In fact, memorization awakens the mind and shapes the character.
Meaningful learning, as opposed to rote learning, means that “students build the knowledge and cognitive processes needed for successful problem solving” (Mayer, 2002). Meaningful learning focuses on the idea that a person tries to makes sense of his or her experience and then to imprint that in memory. It also involves the way of achieving a goal that has not yet been achieved. This type of learning involves the representation of the problem and the problem solution itself. But the demerit of this type of learning is that it better works with adults, who are already capable of building logical connections and creating parallel relations of different objects in relation to one another. However this meaningful learning will hardly work with small children who are not yet that developed.
Constructivists base their objections on the idea that there is no objective knowledge and that every person constructs knowledge. Therefore there is nothing to memorize as nothing really is worth doing it. The modern philosophy of liberty points out that it restricts the mind if something is learnt without comprehension. However, it is not true, as the rote learning provides different concepts and ideas for the young mind. These learnt ideas become a powerful mental instrument as they cultivate critical powers of any person. These learnt things let a person look inside his or her own inclinations, desires, dreams and secrets of the soul. It would be cruel to deprive a child of these investigations of his or her own entire inner world. This kind of memorization is the only possible way to show a young person what life was long time ago. It can also show what life can be. If these things are simply read or heard somewhere they will never touch the soul. They must by learnt in order a child could remember them, extract from memory one day and make the necessary decision.
There are a lot of bright and vivid examples that proved memorization to be not that bad as it is presented nowadays. Thus, for example, the Asian people, whose education is based on rote learning, prove themselves to be high achievers in various spheres, but most of all in mathematics and sciences. Modern progressive educators are not very fond of memorization and rote learning, but this dislike led to the situation that M. Beran described in the following way: “…we now have several generations of Americans who’ve never memorized much of anything. Even highly educated people in their thirties and forties are often unable to recite half a dozen lines of classic poetry or prose” (Beran, 2004). And it is next to impossible to contradict him.