Don many educators insist that memorization is bad and that understanding concepts is the only true way to learn a subject?
Yes, many do say that and they are partially correct. For instance: when a child is learning the multiplication tables she needs to know that when she is asked to multiply nine and twelve that she is really taking nine groups of twelve items and adding them together. But after the concept behind multiplication is understood isn’t it much faster to know that 9 X 12 = 108? Memorization is an extremely efficient way to store facts and figures until the brain is ready to use them. The wonderful thing about proper memorization is that even if the underlying theory of a subject isn’t understood at the moment, the brain will eventually make the necessary connections blending facts, figures and data into an understanding of the concept that would not have been possible if the information had not been stored by memorization. This is where the idea of “sleeping on it” came about.
