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0 pointsapsurd14y ago0 comments

Essentially you are saying something is better than nothing.

I wholeheartedly agree.

As a person whose purpose in life is more and more "Free information in order to Free Education", all I'm saying is I think we can do better; a lot better.

Rote memorization certainly works. But I don't think anyone anywhere, has ever proved that it's an efficient or even particular good way to learn something. And yet modern civilization takes this for granted.

p.s. I never went to college so this is all outside-in.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

nosignal14y ago· 2 in thread

At the risk of being pedantic, it's worth noting that some things benefit from memorisation (e.g. the alphabet) and some things benefit from "higher" learning (e.g. understanding the concepts of programming). I don't think patio11 is necessarily saying "something is better than nothing"; sometimes it is _better_ to teach someone 'if you see the shape O, you say "oh"'.

apsurdOP14y ago

touché =)

I understand that very clearly when you put it that way. I remember my dad beating the alphabet into my head. It was the only way that he could eventually teach me how to read.

Thanks for that.

chii14y ago

i agree too - the foundation stuff should be memorized so well that you know it like you would know the back of your hand.

This way, the instant recall of information can then help the higher level learning that goes on.

Think maths - if you can't add/subtract/multiply/divide fast, you will have a hard time doing algebra and calculus.

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