In the last week I have been challenged a half dozen times on why I am bothering helping my kids memorize things. What about critical thinking? What about creativity? Why bother learning trivia you can just look up?
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I have what I think are three good answers for this:
Working memory limitations
Atomic units and scaffolding
Facts are important for creativity
It’s not trivia
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It is hard for many adults to see [the importance of memorizing facts for the humanities] because even if they don’t know the details of the Protestant Revolution, they know there was such a thing as the Protestant Revolution. They likely know something about Martin Luther and the 95 Thesis. They know about the Gutenberg Printing Press. They know about Henry VIII and his six wives. They know there is a religion called “Anglicanism”. They have heard of the Holy Roman Empire (even if they know little about it). They know about the slave trade (or at least think they do). Heck — they know where Africa is situated compared to Europe and the Americas. They have SOME atomic units that have been put into their long term memory — they have something they can build on. But at some point in the past, all of those facts needed to be learned and memorized. For adults who have been exposed to western culture for their entire lives, most of these facts they “got for free” — but most kids do not know these things unless they are taught.
From the article:
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