The Disappearance of Memorization—And What We Lost

Memorization gives students a personal library of beautiful language, building blocks of thought, and pieces of their cultural inheritance.

The argument: Children’s minds should be filled with, in the words of Matthew Arnold, “the best which has been thought and said in the world.”

WHY IT MATTERS

In an 1854 lecture at the University of Lille, French inventor Louis Pasteur famously said, “in the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.” In other words, scientific breakthroughs depend on a scientist’s prior knowledge. What we often call scientific “genius” actually relies on many hours of study wherein important facts were internalized. The same can be said of other fields: invention, discovery, and progress are impossible without memory.

Sadly, very few students today memorize anything other than the multiplication table. Even forty years ago, memorization was on its way out. A 1982 New York Times article quotes the director of communication arts for the New York City public schools as saying, “Memorization has come to be regarded as a kind of drudgery and is not as popular as it used to be.” Today, many students and teachers believe that memorization is pointless; why should 21^st century students be expected to memorize anything when Google is at their fingertips?

Contrary to these common sentiments, memorization has significant benefits. As Pasteur hinted, students need material in their long-term memory banks in order to observe and understand. Memory is especially important for reading and writing fluency and comprehension. In The Knowledge Deficit, E.D. Hirsch writes, “The systematic acquisition of broad knowledge…is precisely what it takes to become a good reader.” He goes on to laud factual knowledge as well as “the language it entails.” Vocabulary, too, is vital, according to Hirsch. The bones of the human body, taxonomy, vocabulary lists, mathematical functions, poetry, Shakespeare, and important writings from American history can all contribute to better understanding.

In the same 1982 article cited above, critics of memorization claimed that schools must concentrate on “mastery of concepts and skills” and that memorization is a “luxury” that students can’t afford. But higher-order learning, such as problem solving and critical thinking, is more difficult without background knowledge. In Why Don’t Students Like School, education researcher Daniel Willingham explains, “research from cognitive science has shown that the sorts of skills that teachers want for students—such as the ability to analyze and to think critically—require extensive factual knowledge.” Internalizing that factual knowledge necessarily involves memorization.

For most of human history, memorization formed a significant part of students’ formal education, and for good reason. “We are, at our core, remembering and story-making creatures,” says Wilfred McClay in his American history textbook, Land of Hope. He continues, “A culture without memory will necessarily be barbarous and easily tyrannized, even if it is technologically advanced.” We only truly know and own the knowledge that we have internalized. Memorizing both essential information and great literature gives students the mental tools they need to thrive in their careers as well as engage as capable, confident citizens.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Schools should bring back memorization. Students deserve to have rich, beautiful, informative, and culturally important knowledge in their mind’s permanent collection. Knowledge that is worthy of study—from science to religion to literare—is also worthy to be remembered. When the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident” are on the tip of every tongue, our thoughts, our words, and our republic will be elevated.