Rote learning, it seems, is back in the news… and for a whole host of different reasons. From memory
championships to learning a new language, from school exams to becoming a cab driver, everyone's talking
about rote learning, the pros and the cons. Here's a quick digest of the basics.
So what exactly is rote learning? Why are so many people against it? Why do so many people swear by it?
Memorisation and rote learning in particular, is still a very important skill in a number of fields. Actors need to
perfect memorization techniques in order to learn their lines. London cab drivers need to memorise routes
across the city to get their taxi driver's licence. Professional musicians memorise whole symphonies,
professional dancers memorise whole choreographies. And recent research suggests that exercising our
memories in this way can help keep our brains healthy and fit, and prevent the onset of senility. For those of
us who don't need to memorise things as part of our jobs, doctors advise taking up pastimes like chess or
dance classes like square dancing or Bollywood, activities that involve memorizing complex sequences in
order to keep our brains young and flexible well into old age.
Rote learning is a memorization technique that basically involves repeating something over and over until we
have committed it to memory. School children use it as a way to learn poems, actors use it as a way to learn
their lines, politicians use it to help them remember a phone number or key dates and names for a history
exam or the directions that someone's just given us on the street. Facts, figures and texts that are committed
to memory in this way can be stored for a minute or for the rest of your life. The key is in the number of
repetitions.
Rote learning has gone out of fashion in some circles. People criticize it for being “mindless” that we don't
concentrate on the content or the message when we're learning by rote, we are merely “parroting”, repeating
the sounds with no sense. Educationalists are calling for deep understanding and critical thinking. They
believe that knowledge is best stored when it has been processed and understood. They criticize the practice
of rote learning in schools, saying that it is no longer a necessary skill. In the age of internet it is much more
important to know how to access information, and how to analyse it, evaluate it and use it.