Learning by Rote

I have always thought that once I step out of school, I would be freed from learning by rote which is oftentimes the method adopted by teachers who teach WHAT to learn than HOW to learn. In high school, I disliked my Chinese class because we were asked to memorize the whole article and even essay questions for exams have fixed answers such that those with good memory can of course get good grades provided they exert an effort in memorizing the text. This despite the Chinese abhorring 死記硬背 which roughly translates to memorization without understanding. In defiance, I would always answer essay questions using my own words, and how I understood the texts. I was too busy with many things to waste time in 死記硬背 and it simply didn't make me feel good to have answers imposed on me. That was just stupid, you take out the creativity and the exercise for critical thinking.

And yet now I am pressured to pass the exam with a perfect score. Actually you commit one mistake and you fail, that's how harsh it is. I don't know what's worse, the questions never change and all you have to do to pass is to memorize every possible question and the corresponding answer, or be questioned about your skills because you've taken the test several times and yet you can't perfect the exam to pass. Again, being the stubborn type, I simply refuse to review and memorize just to pass. I take exams seriously. I see exams as one way to test what I know but I don't believe that it measures what I am capable of. And even if I fail the exams one after another, I still think that I am capable of doing greater things because I know HOW and not because I know WHAT though it cannot be denied that knowing WHAT also plays an important role in the HOW process. However, to stop at knowing WHAT is foolish; one must go beyond and explore the WHY's and the HOW's.

If true education is the goal, training must be done. Training in this regard does not mean just sitting in front of a lecturer and taking down notes, but providing hands-on practice so that learners actually get to feel what it's like to do what is needed. We always say that theory and practice must go hand in hand, but oftentimes we disregard one in favor of the other. There must be balance so that learners will understand that theories are there to serve as guides and thus are not the end-all be-all of learning, and that these are open to modifications as the situation sees fit. And also, that it doesn't matter if what you do doesn't fit any theory as long as it is logical and it works. Who knows you might have just have to create a new theory of your own. My point, in a nutshell, is that whatever knowledge we have of the world is provisional, and that there are MANY things to uncover, discover, and invent. We live in an ever-changing world where the truths of yesterday may be false today and true again in the future. And in order for this dynamism to continue, in order for the pool of human knowledge to expand, we need courageous minds which are willing to explore and conquer the status quo.