Rote Memorization: The Deterioration of the U.S. Citizen

Few would argue with the idea that the purpose of a public education system in any country is not only to create more skilled, successful workers, but to shape the average citizen; especially in democratic states, the type of citizen desired by a country has an important place in the direction such a state will turn to, since the political process works best when the average participant is informed and politically active.

However, with the implementation of standardized tests in the last few decades as the chief pathway of testing the knowledge of a student, critical thinking as a skill as deteriorated in our society, with a select few students chosen early on to participate in "honors", "advanced placement", and "accelerated" classes, and the remainder pressed into classes where rote memorization was supreme.


Rote Memorization


Now, rote memorization - or memorization by repetition - has its place.  When it comes to knowing base facts, learning to memorize quickly and efficiently comes in handy, especially given the incentives for the skill: standardized multiple-choice tests such as the high school exit exam make it easy for students to pass classes, because no deep understanding of the subjects being taught is required.  As long as one knows how to memorize dates, basic equations, and whatever statements their teacher told them they needed to know, they will pass.

The problem is, when the incentives for "learning" are so skewed to quickly memorizing facts for a test (which are almost always immediately forgotten afterward).  Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, except that often teachers in elementary and secondary schools don't take the next step and form classroom activities in such a way as to facilitate critical thinking, to take the definitions and equations memorized, and press deeper into the subjects.

The preparation is solely for taking tests, not for truly learning and understanding material.  This is made worse by the tying of teachers' compensation to the number of students which pass these tests.  So, the incentive for learning pushes both students and teachers to cram large amounts of information by memorization in a short period of time leading up to a test, allowing for higher number to pass the test (by which all involved are judged).



Missing Link: The Critical Thinker

So what happens when the wide majority of a democratic state has not been trained to excel in critical thinking?  When the average outcome of the educational system is a person who has had their curiosity or even slight interest in the things going on around them quashed?  Who can't stand math, would rather watch "Reality" T.V.  than read the news?

What happens when the average citizen in a Democratic state can't be bothered to pay attention to politics and the activities of their government, because it doesn't provide the same level of "entertainment" (read: distraction) as a cartoon or music video?

I'll leave you to think about it, but if one takes the time to look up from FaceBook every now in then, the answer isn't far off at all, especially for the U.S. citizen.

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