An Argument Against Memorization | StarTalk

I have a strong philosophical objection
to memorizing names I’m in the spirit of
Einstein who is rumored to have said and
maybe he actually did say never memorize
what you can look up saving the brain
for things for which memorization is
useless like coming up with a new idea
about how the universe works so classes
in school that were heavy and
memorization if you were good at
memorizing things you memorize them and
you do really well on that exam and a
year later you would have forgotten
everything so what was the point
but classes that taught ideas and
analysis and wisdom and insight and
understanding that is what we preserve
throughout our lives had people not
memorized the nine planets in order from
the Sun with memory aids like the
mnemonic my very educated mother just
served us nine pizzas had people not
been forced to memorize that the idea
that you’re losing a planet would be
okay fine but all of a sudden this hard
earn demonic now has to be adjusted and
modified otherwise you will have
existential angst so I have I have never
valued the memorization of things as an
educator
understanding what it is you’re
memorizing even if you have failed to
memorize it is by far a greater
intellectual achievement than having
memorized something and not knowing why