Learning vs. Memorizing

Not long ago, a teacher struggled to explain the difference between learning and memorizing. This is certainly a difficult task talking within the context of a school. She finally arrived at the definition of learning as permanent memorization.

The dictionary offers this help:

learn
1 a (1): to gain knowledge or understanding of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience (2): memorize
b: to come to be able
c: to come to realize
3: to come to know : hear

memorize
: to commit to memory : learn by heart

What's done in schools is rote memorization. Learning would be something that is personally useful or meaningful to you: (knowledge, skills, ideas, etc.)

People forget what isn't useful or meaningful to them. It isn't a flaw of the mind, to be corrected by repetition; It is a natural and logical process of the brain that we should take a cue from.

In schools, children are learning only to forget. Later on, the information they memorized won't matter any more. There aren't any more quizzes and tests. They will have spent all their time memorizing things when they should have been learning things that matter.

The only reason it mattered in the first place is because it was part of the secret code. You must know it to move through the levels of school. You must memorize the secret code to move on, until you get to the end. A little like a video game.

So what is real learning? It isn't rote memorization, but exposure. Go to your library and read everything you can. Expose yourself to as many ideas as possible. Think about what you read and look for ways to apply it to your life. Look at everything that interests you.

If there is a body of knowledge that everyone should know, don't you think you should be able to pick it up from your environment? Observe the world you live in. Ask yourself questions, and learn how to find the answers.