Hey,<\/p>\n
A lot of people come into this course, read through the basic idea
\nof holistic learning and say things to me like:<\/p>\n
“I totally get it–rote memorization is the worst. But I need to
\nremember all the names\/facts\/dates\/ect. for this class…”<\/p>\n
But to me, this statement doesn’t make a lot of sense. The point of
\nholistic learning isn’t just to find fancier ways to memorize, it’s
\nto avoid memorizing things altogether.<\/p>\n
Yes–some things do require memorization. And a good chunk of this
\nprogram is dedicated to the mental tricks that make that a less
\ntime consuming process.<\/p>\n
However, MOST things you’ll learn NEVER need to be memorized.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
In my entire time taking classes, I’ve rarely had to use a strategy
\nto explicitly memorize something (perhaps only 3-5 times for every
\ndozen or so classes).<\/p>\n
That means out of hundreds of textbook chapters, I’ve only really
\n*needed* to peg, chain, memorize, or acrosticize a handful
\nof times. Seriously.<\/p>\n
Now maybe this is just a symptom of my major (but I frequently hear
\nthe same arguments from people within my field of study) or perhaps
\nI just have a natural bear-trap memory, so I am subconsciously
\n“memorizing” all those facts others have to learn by rote.<\/p>\n
However, I think a more likely explanation is that for most classes
\nmemorization isn’t really necessary–and that trying to memorize is
\nusually due to failing to “get” the subject on a deeper level.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Take accounting for example. I’m not an accounting major, but I’ve
\ntaken several in-depth classes in accounting. I’m also told that
\nthis field of study makes it “impossible” to learn holistically and
\nthat you need to memorize facts that are completely arbitrary.<\/p>\n
That attitude is complete nonsense. Most, if not all, of accounting
\npractices have a reason, otherwise why would they have been
\ninvented?<\/p>\n
If you understand the context of a particular rule (of say why cost
\nof goods sold only includes manufacturing, but not shipping) then
\nyou don’t need to memorize it. The rule becomes obvious because you
\n“get” the subject on a deeper level.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Another example is languages. Yes–I’ve used “memorizing” tactics
\nto broaden my vocabulary and secure key terms when learning French.<\/p>\n
However, 95% of my vocabulary had nothing to do with that. Words
\nare not arbitrary devices, they have an etymology, similar words
\nand even the way they sound has an influence on their purpose.<\/p>\n
Memorizing tactics like image association can certainly help. But
\nif you start by assuming that words simply need to be memorized,
\nyou’re deliberately ignoring the more deeper layers that can make
\na language interesting and fun.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
For anyone who is in this course now, and feels they have a lot of
\nmaterial they need to remember, stop right now.<\/p>\n
Sit back and ask yourself if you *actually* need to remember more
\nthings, or whether you need to understand more things first.<\/p>\n
Memorization and even fancy time-saving memorization tactics should
\nbe a Plan B at most. If you start with the assumption that most
\ntopics are logical and can be understood on layer deeper than the
\nsurface, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and agony and may even
\nenjoy the topic more.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
That’s all for this week. I’m working on some new implementation
\nguides, so stay tuned for that later in the month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey, A lot of people come into this course, read through the basic idea of holistic learning and say things to me like: “I totally get it–rote memorization is the worst. But I need to remember all the names\/facts\/dates\/ect. for this class…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":567,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}