The art of memory is ancient. Why? Because it was needed. Indeed, the ancient world strummed along
rather well without the use of paper. Imagine a world without paper, if
you can. There would be no textbooks, no notes, no crib sheets, no
reminders. None of those modern artifacts of our daily lives would be there to
assist us. Today, we rely 100% on paper, electronic or from wood pulp.
Even into relatively modern times, students relied on their memory to recall long citations from the literature or even math. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the US, who was raised with hardly a book in his house, developed his memory to prodigious levels. He was a surveyor in his early days - to make a living. This came long before he studied law. For his survey work he needed basic math skills. These included knowledge of the right triangle, oblique angles and triangles, azimuth, angles, bearing, bearing intersections, distance intersections, coordinate geometry, law of sines and cosines, interpolation, compass rules, horizontal and vertical curves, grades, and slopes. This sounds much like what is now the standard curriculum in four years of high school math. Naturally, much of this involves algebra, the concept of a unknown, and the solving of algebraic equations. In the field, and really it was just that with no phones, no Internet, no truck filled with reference books, he lived by his memory - maybe one book in his saddle bag. (BTW, he learned his math independently. At one point he decried all the math in the schoolhouse consisted of arithmetic and the rule of three.*)
Nowadays, we have all kinds of external memory devices. Students will tell you if they need to know something, they will merely look it up. I get that a lot. What they don't realize is the simple fact that if they don't know what they need, they won't know to look it up. Problems just don't come along with pointers on what is needed to solve them.
What is profoundly missing in schools these days is any sort of memory training. Let me give to an analogy to sports.
You've just signed up for the team. The coach says, "get out there an play." What is wrong with this picture? I'll tell you. First, we need deep stretching to limber up the muscles and joints. Then comes basic physical training, like running, jumping, and physical maneuvers. After that, the coach will train you on the plays of the team, and drill you until you know well. Only then will you get to play the game. But the drilling continues day after day.
In the schools there is none of this. Sure you are shown how to solve a problem and then given practice on solving more of the same. Then you are given the test. Voila! You have passed the course. No thought has been provided for the student to actually remember what was learned. The modular construction of the curriculum deprecates this. One topic, then the next, which precedes the next and so on is the curriculum, until the end of the school year. Summer vacation!
Only a little side trip into the world of memory skills may improve sustained learning results. Only a little time spent, even from the first grade, on how to remember could pay dividends scholastically and in life. This is what's missing from the picture. In sports, oddly enough, this is part of the training.
Points:
a. If students were taught the basic skills of memory techniques, there would not be such a need to reteach each year what was totally forgotten from the previous year.
b. If students could be counted upon to remember what they have learned, progress in the early part of the school year would actually be measurable.
c. In fairness, training in sports doesn't quite require the same level of instruction as does education. There are a fixed number of plays, unlike the nature of education which is far more general. Nonetheless, it is critically important for team members to know what to do in given circumstances. Memory! Athletes can't take time to discover what to do along the way.
* The rule of three is as ancient as math gets. You have two sets of quantities a - b and c-d. You know a/b = c/d. You know three of these quantities. Find the fourth. There was an ancient Chinese textbook devoted to exactly this relation.
Even into relatively modern times, students relied on their memory to recall long citations from the literature or even math. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the US, who was raised with hardly a book in his house, developed his memory to prodigious levels. He was a surveyor in his early days - to make a living. This came long before he studied law. For his survey work he needed basic math skills. These included knowledge of the right triangle, oblique angles and triangles, azimuth, angles, bearing, bearing intersections, distance intersections, coordinate geometry, law of sines and cosines, interpolation, compass rules, horizontal and vertical curves, grades, and slopes. This sounds much like what is now the standard curriculum in four years of high school math. Naturally, much of this involves algebra, the concept of a unknown, and the solving of algebraic equations. In the field, and really it was just that with no phones, no Internet, no truck filled with reference books, he lived by his memory - maybe one book in his saddle bag. (BTW, he learned his math independently. At one point he decried all the math in the schoolhouse consisted of arithmetic and the rule of three.*)
Nowadays, we have all kinds of external memory devices. Students will tell you if they need to know something, they will merely look it up. I get that a lot. What they don't realize is the simple fact that if they don't know what they need, they won't know to look it up. Problems just don't come along with pointers on what is needed to solve them.
What is profoundly missing in schools these days is any sort of memory training. Let me give to an analogy to sports.
You've just signed up for the team. The coach says, "get out there an play." What is wrong with this picture? I'll tell you. First, we need deep stretching to limber up the muscles and joints. Then comes basic physical training, like running, jumping, and physical maneuvers. After that, the coach will train you on the plays of the team, and drill you until you know well. Only then will you get to play the game. But the drilling continues day after day.
In the schools there is none of this. Sure you are shown how to solve a problem and then given practice on solving more of the same. Then you are given the test. Voila! You have passed the course. No thought has been provided for the student to actually remember what was learned. The modular construction of the curriculum deprecates this. One topic, then the next, which precedes the next and so on is the curriculum, until the end of the school year. Summer vacation!
Only a little side trip into the world of memory skills may improve sustained learning results. Only a little time spent, even from the first grade, on how to remember could pay dividends scholastically and in life. This is what's missing from the picture. In sports, oddly enough, this is part of the training.
Points:
a. If students were taught the basic skills of memory techniques, there would not be such a need to reteach each year what was totally forgotten from the previous year.
b. If students could be counted upon to remember what they have learned, progress in the early part of the school year would actually be measurable.
c. In fairness, training in sports doesn't quite require the same level of instruction as does education. There are a fixed number of plays, unlike the nature of education which is far more general. Nonetheless, it is critically important for team members to know what to do in given circumstances. Memory! Athletes can't take time to discover what to do along the way.
* The rule of three is as ancient as math gets. You have two sets of quantities a - b and c-d. You know a/b = c/d. You know three of these quantities. Find the fourth. There was an ancient Chinese textbook devoted to exactly this relation.
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