On Memorization
One of the weakest points of progressive education is its abandonment of memory work. Memorizing facts and figures has been vilified as dull, boring, useless, and inferior. Teachers are encouraged to give their students “more enlightened” and “higher-level” tasks. The problem is that these students have nothing to work with. They don’t have the necessary information that would enable them to complete such complex tasks.
Classical education recognizes the crucial role of memory work. It is the cornerstone of a solid education. Leigh Lowe of Memoria Press explains:
We use memorization to build a foundational base of knowledge and to fill the hearts and heads of our students so they may write, speak, and think with clarity, truth, and beauty. The facts, Scripture, poetry, songs, and literary passages memorized by students are formative and life giving. They become the truths to which they will cling, the stories to which they will allude, the resources to which they will refer, and the facts with which they will persuade throughout the whole of life. The well-educated person, who has a head and heart full of meaningful knowledge, is a better writer, speaker, thinker, and servant because he or she has an overflowing fount of resources within, ready for access at any time.
The main methods for helping students memorize are repetition and recitation. Though the adults may think this repetition dull, generally the students do not. They enjoy the confidence that comes from repeatedly proving they can in fact write a cursive G, multiply three-digit numbers, label the states on a map, or recite a lengthy poem. Any athlete knows that practice is absolutely necessary to learn and improve, and it is foolish to think this does not also apply in the classroom.
Of this repetition, I like to refer to an expression by C. S. Lewis, who said, “A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice.” When students are comfortable with their routine and there is a lot of familiarity, the effort can go into what is new—the new content, the new lesson. There is not the added challenge of learning a new system, a new way of doing things. The student is grounded and comfortable and he knows exactly where he is headed. This frees him to release some anxieties and concerns about practicalities and lift his thoughts in contemplation of bigger ideas. Structure, repetition, and order, are, ironically, the requisites of freedom.
The consummation of memorization is recitation. It is the “Watch this!” all children cry when mastering something new. Formerly the primary method of testing students’ knowledge, recitation helps both students and teachers know immediately where there are gaps and where more work needs to be done.
But recitation also reveals victory clearly. Recitation is unique in that it fosters the kind of confidence and pride we want our children to have—the kind earned by accomplishing a challenging feat, the kind that enables them to humbly believe they can learn anything. On a practical level, recitation encourages clear, articulate, meaningful communication. It promotes interacting with others with poise, accuracy, and consideration. But more importantly, recitation teaches the importance of sharing our lights with others and using the knowledge that we hold in our hearts to delight and serve.
At Liberty Classical School, we choose to educate with what is best, not what is new. We see the value of these time-tested methods of learning and want to capitalize on their effectiveness. To read the full article by Leigh Lowe, Repetition, Memorization, Recitation, and more, visit memoriapress.com.
This is the education we want for our own children, and we invite you to join us!
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Liberty Classical School is a full-time, private Christian Classical school in Lincoln, NE. We exist to educate children that they may know and love the truth. We partner with parents to establish men and women who glorify God as loyal servants. We equip our students to be formidable adversaries of falsity and all other enemies of God. We believe that the primary end for education is not merely survival, but glory—glory in the truth and Glory to God—the Father, the Spirit and the Son—on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen