I think I see what you mean. I didn’t mean memorizing vocabulary per se (Guessing the Teacher’s Password), but getting to practice old concepts and apply them to new problems. There’s a tendency to forget conceptual processes if they’re not used. An important aspect of education is that it’s remembered, in general. To use an example, I’d sure like it if I remembered most of what I learned in Bio II, or psychology I, and so forth. I mastered those courses at the time, but I’ve forgotten them, so it’s as if I wasn’t educated. I suppose, there’s a fine line between mastery and memorization, but mastery, I should think, is the combination of real understanding and recall. One cannot exist without the other.
An important aspect of education is that it’s remembered, in general.
I don’t know about that. An alternate viewpoint is that education is just training for your mind and the subject matter doesn’t matter much, then or later. Note that “education” is different from “professional training”.
I vaguely recall that in 10 years most people remember pretty much nothing out of whatever they were taught in college. You can interpret this factoid in multiple ways, of course.
I accept that the value that alternative viewpoint has (and of course, it is field-dependent), but I don’t think the two viewpoints are, by necessity, at odds. What you are describing sounds like the way it is now, in many things, ergo it is a sufficient philosophy. My own viewpoint derives from a desire to have the best of both worlds, in a sense. But whether remembering more is worth anything in terms of utility (would it make people better at what they do?) is to the best of my knowledge unproven, I’ve realized. I’m not sure what would be optimal. Personally, I’m just the type that wants to know everything. ;)
I think I see what you mean. I didn’t mean memorizing vocabulary per se (Guessing the Teacher’s Password), but getting to practice old concepts and apply them to new problems. There’s a tendency to forget conceptual processes if they’re not used. An important aspect of education is that it’s remembered, in general. To use an example, I’d sure like it if I remembered most of what I learned in Bio II, or psychology I, and so forth. I mastered those courses at the time, but I’ve forgotten them, so it’s as if I wasn’t educated. I suppose, there’s a fine line between mastery and memorization, but mastery, I should think, is the combination of real understanding and recall. One cannot exist without the other.
I don’t know about that. An alternate viewpoint is that education is just training for your mind and the subject matter doesn’t matter much, then or later. Note that “education” is different from “professional training”.
I vaguely recall that in 10 years most people remember pretty much nothing out of whatever they were taught in college. You can interpret this factoid in multiple ways, of course.
I accept that the value that alternative viewpoint has (and of course, it is field-dependent), but I don’t think the two viewpoints are, by necessity, at odds. What you are describing sounds like the way it is now, in many things, ergo it is a sufficient philosophy. My own viewpoint derives from a desire to have the best of both worlds, in a sense. But whether remembering more is worth anything in terms of utility (would it make people better at what they do?) is to the best of my knowledge unproven, I’ve realized. I’m not sure what would be optimal. Personally, I’m just the type that wants to know everything. ;)