A LARGE majority of us would not be able to solve basic algebraic equations or explain scientific principles that were taught in our early years of education. Similarly, students promoted to the next grade will, in all probability, fail to deliver results. This is because we memorise rather than learn. Learning is understanding, applying and adapting information for enduring impact, which includes using knowledge to resolve real-life problems. Memorisation is storing information; it requires constant reinforcement. Hard to retain, it cannot adapt to new or unfamiliar situations.
Research shows that monotonous courses result in students mocking their syllabi. Learners, as per human nature, eventually shun irrelevant yet compulsory subjects that are taught from school through to university. Obsolete teaching approaches and outdated formats diminish the learners’ trust and interest in certain subjects, and they end up taking these for granted.
Additionally, old-fashioned assessment methods cater to memory rather than supporting analytical and critical thinking abilities. Socrates said, “I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” Thinking kindles curiosity, which is desperately needed for analysis. Instead, our education system is structured to discourage, even eliminate the pursuit of inquiry. As a result, our memory-based education is more suitable for the ‘right’ answers as opposed to original, critical questions. This aspect practically obstructs learning.
We are familiar with Confucius’ famous quote, “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” His opinion refers to the confluence of knowledge and context which enables proper, constructive learning. Context includes the physical and sociocultural dynamics of a learner. For example, a physical connotation of context could be a neat and clean environment, while care and trust are the sociocultural dimensions of the same environment; failure to integrate both aspects disables true learning.
We teach the means in isolation; it is disconnected from the purpose.A critical analysis of the physical and sociocultural environment in educational institutions and in society reveals that the two are detached from each other, widening the gap between knowledge and practice. The context in physical and sociocultural spaces does not exist, or is misaligned with what students formally learn through the curricula, pedagogy and assessments.
Memorisation cannot adapt to unfamiliar situations.
Research says that our schools teach science in the same way as Urdu and Pakistan Studies because underprivileged facilities cannot provide a conducive setting for theoretical understanding and science practical work. This is because schools lack science laboratories, teachers, equipment and other materials.Sadly, teachers also avoid thetheoretical basis for scientific principles and the social context of learning because they have a false fear that such knowledge will distract the young from their faith. Even urban spaces do not seek to connect what is taught in educational institutions to what is observed in the social environment. For instance, a student suggested that a lesson on the importance of following traffic signals should be skipped because there were none in his town.
Hence, the sociocultural context is often at odds with what is taught in our schools, while care and trust cease to exist beyond the classroom. What students memorise is to trust and care, but what they experience socially teaches the opposite. Parents have no choice but to advise their children to maintain a distance and to be detached due to the rise in the exploitation and manipulation of the young.
Either by design or default, memorisation is aligned with our educational context in terms of curriculum, teaching, and assessment. It is a convenient method given our minimal investment in education, short-term and volatile policies, and dismal educational governance and management.
Our curriculum, teaching, and evaluation must become responsive to the knowledge-context ideal and ensure proper alignment between the two. Although education is connected with societal improvement, true education encourages a culture built on the fundamental components of trust, care, respect for teachers and the teaching profession, and the rule of law. Otherwise students lose faith in what they are taught; they become demotivated degree-holders rather than valuable human capital. The latter is mandatory for the betterment of our people and to reverse the country’s socioeconomic decline.
The writer is an educationist.
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2025
