Critical Thinking Vs Rote Memorization

 

Critical Thinking Vs Rote Memorization

Dec 11, 2018

Critical Thinking Vs Rote Memorization

With an intense focus on results alone, the education system in India is flawed. From Pre-K to grade 12, students are obsessively oriented towards memorizing answers without grasping underlying core concepts. It is an accepted fact that the student who memorizes the most, scores the highest. Students study with the sole objective of scoring high marks  and cracking competitive exams, rather than for the love of learning.

Rote learning is not beneficial for the student as he or she will able to recall the information for a short term, but certainly lose it in the long run.

What essentially happens  is  this - the information is retained in the student's working memory and he or she will be able to recall it for a short period. Sometimes there’s too much information to be able to memorize all of it. With factors such as stress, lack of sleep and distractions involved, retaining and recalling such a vast amount information from memory gets harder and harder, until the student finally buckles under the pressure.

If in the exam, the student is faced with a situation where deeper conceptual questions are asked, he or she ends up performing poorly, as a proper understanding of the concept is lacking.

This is where the education system falls short of equipping graduates for jobs in a fast growing economy.

Shocking, but true...

According to a recent nationwide survey, 80% of school principals believe that emphasis on rote learning is a contributing factor to the poor quality of our education system.

Nearly 70% of the principals surveyed felt that the curriculum did not give sufficient scope for creative thinking.

In yet another survey conducted across Tamilnadu, months after acing their Class 12 exams, nearly 40% of first year medical students in 27 colleges across the state failed.

Nearly 75% of second year engineering students in colleges in and around Chennai failed in at least one subject in the third semester.

A survey of 200 Indian and foreign companies found that only 14% of Indian graduates were prepared for the workforce, largely because most graduates were unable to apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems.

Clearly, something seems to be wrong.

Students today face the pressure from family and school with the sole objective being - scoring high.

What needs to change? 

Memorizing is no learning; the biggest flaw in our education system is that it incentivizes memorizing above originality. Simply  being able to retrieve information from memory is not enough in today's world.

Teachers need to move beyond just teaching to more effective methods. Good teachers create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding. They also recognize the uniqueness of individual learners and understand that each child is unique and learns in his or her own way and time.

Students must be taught concepts in engaging ways and then be challenged to think about them in critical ways.

In examinations, students must not only be asked factual questions, but be assessed in parameters that evaluate their ability to analyze concepts and apply their learning to real-world problems.

Today, apart from academics, employerslook for the efficiency of a job candidate in the  key areas of critical thinking, complex problem solving, written and oral communication, and applied knowledge in real-world settings. So a student's ability to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems plays a major role in him/her getting hired by an employer. It is to be remembered that the future will always be defined by creativity and innovation. An ideal curriculum therefore must be a balanced mix of both rote learning and critical thinking.