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memory and learning...synonymous?

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Annapurna Das
from Noida,U.P.,India |

I have a question...Is there a co-relation between memory and learning?

The pundits of our times, will readily have us believe, that without memory, learning cannot happen. Is this why our educational system rests heavily upon rote-learning and cramming?

 Notice, a 97 percenter today,is almost certainly a student who has the capacity to memorize huge chunks of knowledge.

What's the easiest route to success in today's examinations? Simple.Study hard.

Simply put, but not so simply accomplished. For, that five-letter-word 'study', conceals within its simple exterior, another world by itself. Study is another name for 'strategies of success' in this academic rat-race. Today,one needs to study smartly,to do well academically.

A child is trained to 'study' even before he begins to go to school. Nursery rhymes....A,B,C, D,.............1,2,3,4.........he memorizes or learns. There I go, uttering memory and learning in the same breath. Are they synonymous? I wonder. Is it possible to learn without memorizing?

What is the fate of a student who cannot memorize? How does he hope to scale those towering mountains of theorems,tables,definitions,formulae....that lie on his way to academic success? Perhaps some unscrupulous tuition master will drill it into him by some well-practiced means and help him master the 'strategy'.Or perhaps, he will suffer the ordeal of trying his best , and remain an average student in life. Because, he hadn't learnt how to memorize .

Is it too wishful of me to even dream of a day when a child will walk up the path of learning, straight,without leaning on to any clutches whatsoever, ....of memory, of knowledge, of skills, of marks or degrees....a path where everything else remains just an aid to learning? Where learning is a choice . A process of growing from within.And no one else has the right to judge how far he's reached on this path. This child of my dreams will continue to grow, uninhibited, lapping up all he can learn from around him, free . At last.

Edited
Reason: http://growingwithyou.com

Replies 1 to 3 of 3

Annapurna Das
from Noida,U.P.,India |

Thanks for taking the topic forward,Psych Babbler and Samir.

I agree with you, P.B., when you say that we cannot rely purely on memory. I would like to see learning happen on its own, and our system of education encourage it.

And Samir, yes, the aptitude tests countrywide are a sure example where rote-learning has no place. However, my concern is with the system of education that plagues our schools and colleges.

Even today, degrees and diplomas can be got easily through rote-learning.

http://growingwithyou.wordpress.com

Vipul Grover
from Chandigarh |

"Is it too wishful of me to even dream of a day when a child will walk up the path of learning, straight,without leaning on to any clutches whatsoever, ....of memory, of knowledge, of skills, of marks or degrees....a path where everything else remains just an aid to learning?"

Thanks to this statement I've been able to decode your dillema.

Actually, ur usage of the words learning and memory is wrong.

Firstly, u r actually equating learning with WISDOM. Now a four phase hierarchy exists towards the attainment of Wisdom- Data, Infirmation, Knowledge and finally the wisdom.

We me say that data is raw information or information is processed data.

It is through access to information, that we build our knowledge. The accumulated knowledge over time through theoretical or practical study or personal experience over time, leads to Wisdom.

Secondly, by memory u r trying to differentiate between learning through studies and learning through experiences. Wisdom is not dependent upon educational degrees. An old villager who never went to school might be much more wiser than a city bred diplomat.

(This is a reply to the original question u raised. I haven't gone through the further discussion which took place)

http://vipulgrover.blogspot.com/

Annapurna Das
from Noida,U.P.,India |

Wow! This discussion is turning out to be quite fruitful. Thanks a ton for your insights into the topic , Samir and Vipul.

Samir, you've rightly said that learning by rote is a choice, not a compulsion. But sadly enough it has become for many, the easy way out.  

 I only feel that we need to encourage an education that does not depend on marks (for marks can be easily procured without proper understanding of the subject, in our present system).

Vipul: perhaps , I haven't been able to make myself clear enough....learning, as I see it ,(I may be wrong) is a process of gaining knowledge. More specifically, I intended to express my opinions on the process of learning in today's schools and colleges.

I reiterate the core of my opinion: the need of the hour today is a system of education where true learning is encouraged and not cramming chunks of information. By laying so much emphasis on marks (ref: cut-off marks in colleges) we are doing just the opposite.