Amanda Lang's Argument Essay: From Tradition To Change
From Tradition to Change
(may add a sub-heading for clarification)
We all did the multiplication facts and vocabulary flashcards. We memorized and repeated the answers that the teachers were asking for because that is how we learn. That is how we have learned for generations. Recently some educators, students, and parents have called into question this method of “rote learning” and its effectiveness. They are claiming that memorization, and methods like it, are no longer effective for the average student today. They are calling for a new kind of learning that challenges students to use their mind to go past memorization and challenge them to use problem solving skills like those that students will more than likely need in the real world. There are compelling arguments from both sides of this controversial topic.
Rote learning
One …show more content…
The main thing that student needs to know is not what to think but how to think in order to face new challenges and solve new problems (pp. 14).” She encourages students to be curious about their surroundings, and says that the rote learning process diminishes a student’s curiosity as they get older. She claims that the rote learning process does not allow students to explore their interests and what they might want to after high school. When the schools were set up in the nineteenth century they were set up for a different economy with different job demands and with us still going by that same system it is leaving students unprepared. Our economy has changed, our job demands have changed, and now we just need to change the curriculum to go with it. We need to encourage individualism and help students keep that “toddler like curiosity” so that they will want to keep learning and also enjoy it (Lang,
(may add a sub-heading for clarification)
We all did the multiplication facts and vocabulary flashcards. We memorized and repeated the answers that the teachers were asking for because that is how we learn. That is how we have learned for generations. Recently some educators, students, and parents have called into question this method of “rote learning” and its effectiveness. They are claiming that memorization, and methods like it, are no longer effective for the average student today. They are calling for a new kind of learning that challenges students to use their mind to go past memorization and challenge them to use problem solving skills like those that students will more than likely need in the real world. There are compelling arguments from both sides of this controversial topic.
Rote learning
One …show more content…
The main thing that student needs to know is not what to think but how to think in order to face new challenges and solve new problems (pp. 14).” She encourages students to be curious about their surroundings, and says that the rote learning process diminishes a student’s curiosity as they get older. She claims that the rote learning process does not allow students to explore their interests and what they might want to after high school. When the schools were set up in the nineteenth century they were set up for a different economy with different job demands and with us still going by that same system it is leaving students unprepared. Our economy has changed, our job demands have changed, and now we just need to change the curriculum to go with it. We need to encourage individualism and help students keep that “toddler like curiosity” so that they will want to keep learning and also enjoy it (Lang,