How Students Feel About Memorization

Recently Mr. Hoffman, a 6th grade math teacher at a middle school in Port Washington, New York, contacted me about an assignment that he gave his students. They read my article on Is Memorization Important? and wrote their feelings about it.  He then sent his students’ comments to me and I thought it would be fun to share them with you. I think it is truly amazing that the students not only read my article but took the time to comment about it too. I hope you enjoy them!

Aphrodite: “Wow. That is......wow. The person who wrote this has a point that many students think but never say. I think she wrote it out perfectly. Memorization sometimes can benefit and sometimes it can just annoy and frustrate you WITHOUT any benefits. If I was a teacher, I would do the same thing this person does. I would think to myself " Is this information going to be relevant in the future? Are the students every going to use this information again by memory?" This article makes me think how many things I have been forced to memorize that I will never need to know either by memory or at all. Not only that, but, in the time I used to memorize all those things, what could have I been doing? Great article.”

Shayne: “I fully agree with this article, and think that critical thinking is a vital part of education. Once in elementary school, I didnt get full credit for a MULTIPLE CHOICE question on a test, because I didnt "show my work well enough". I did write, however, that there was a related previous question, and I used process of elimination to find the right answer. Sometimes critical thinking doesn't have to be showing your work in the way relevant to the present topic, its just finding the right answer using the information given in the most efficient way, and implementing past skills. It shouldn't be punished.”

Max: “I agree with this author in thinking that momorizing everything isn't useful. You have to memorize some stuff you learn in school though. Just not as much as we do now. If I were a teacher and I could do things differently then I would make it so that the students wouldn't necessarily stop making students memorize, but make them memorize less. You have to memorize many things so you succeed in life BUT you don\'t have to memorize so many things that happened in Ancient Greece.”

Jonathan: “I personaly feel memorizing facts doesnt help with anything. Here's why. If you forget the facts even though you memorized them (it happens to me all the time) you will have no idea what to do. But if you actually know how to do the problem using critical thinking you could anwser it instead of just memorizing every thing.”

Javiera: “First off this WAS a GREAT ARTICAL !! I that memeroizing things is important but i also think that its important to memorize things that will actually help us in life as said by the person who made this artical. if i was a teacher and i wanted my students to memorize something i would explain to them why and how it will help them. Just like Mr. hoffman does.”

Julia: “I think that is important to memorize certain things, such as multiplication tables, personal info, etc. but there are a lot of things that are pointless to memorize (unless you are pursuing a very specific career) like the periodic table. If you were planning on becoming a scientist, then it would be important for success. If I was a teacher I would make sure there was a good reason to make kids memorize something before I forced them to memorize it.”

Check out Mr. Hoffman’s site: Hoffkids