Memorizing

Posted on December 10, 2009 | Comments Off on Memorizing

Mr. B. still doesn’t know his multiplication tables. He has to think, for instance, about what 5 X 5 is. Sometimes he guesses wrong. I would have solved this last year by forcing him into the sort of intense memorization session my own father put me through in one evening. But Mr. B.’s teacher last year, when the tables were introduced, said it wouldn’t be a good idea. He’d not know why they work as they do, she said, and I deferred. Little did I know she was programmed to say so, whether she believed it or not.

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0 responses to “Memorizing”

  1. Eva's avatar Eva | December 10, 2009 at 1:51 pm |

    Doesn’t everyone learn their times tables by rote? Went to a Catholic grammer school and we went up to 20. Joe

  2. Dick Stanley's avatar Dick Stanley | December 10, 2009 at 1:53 pm |

    Not any more, apparently. No hickory stick tunes either. I only went up to 12, which has been more than sufficient. But then I’m not an accountant like you. 😉

  3. Veeshir's avatar Veeshir | December 10, 2009 at 2:01 pm |

    That’s one of my biggest problems with schools these days.
    They keep trying out whatever new theory some nitwit has.
    The stuff that worked in the past is hard.
    They think learning should be easy so they’re stopping all the stuff that’s hard.