The Importance Of Rote Learning

Learning involves the acquisition of knowledge. Learning is a process of progressive adoption and a lifelong changing activity based on the change in mental representations and associations due to experience. Learning is also an important source by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved and used. The most effective strategies for learning depend on what kind of learning is desired and toward what ends. Rote Learning, a traditional method, is identified as a cultural preference and an effective way of getting basic knowledge in the early stages of language learning but today the emphasis is on the other type – cognitive learning. It is considered as personal, idiosyncratic and involves recognition of the links between new information

Whereas the main focus of meaningful learning is the transformation of integrated knowledge within the larger task of constructing new knowledge or solving problems. Learning has long been related to the doctrine of constructivism, which Kauchak & Eggen consider as ― a view of learning in which learners use their own experience to construct understandings that make sense to them, rather than having understanding delivered to them in already organized form… (qtd. in Caine and Caine 1). A person becomes mature only when he or she is able to make sense of things for him or herself. The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition defines constructivism

It is a stark reality that the learners are the ones “in charge” of their own thinking & learning process. Cognitive resources of a country’s people are considered its mental wealth, the basis for economic and social prosperity. (Beddington et al. 1057). The present education system has given importance mostly to rote learning by filling the individual with domain knowledge without enabling the learner to think of its applicability in real world contexts. This practice restricts cognitive development. True education requires thinking one’s way to knowledge. Of course, the stage of memorizing the material should not be an end in itself, instead should be a means to an end. By integrating rote learning with cognitive learning, one can recognize that the information memorized is the basis for higher-level concepts & applications and also retain it for a longer period of