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International Education
Home›International Education›Innovation vs. memorization: What kind of educational system should we strive for?

Innovation vs. memorization: What kind of educational system should we strive for?

By Matthew Lynch
July 30, 2015
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**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest post by Taylor Schaefer

Asian countries have topped the list of global school rankings in math and science out of 76 countries in a recent report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). ‘Universal Basic Skills: What Countries Stand to Gain’ ranks countries by averaged math and science test scores. Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei took the top five spots while the United States falls behind at 29th.

Using this study, OECD seeks to show the link between education and economic growth. OECD’s education director Andrea Schleicher stated, “The idea is to give more countries, rich and poor, access to comparing themselves against the world’s education leaders, to discover their relative strengths and weaknesses, and to see what the long-term economic gains from improved quality in schooling could be for them.”

While a high standard of education is often used as an indicator for economic growth of a country, the OECD report does not accurately reflect these numbers. Norway and Qatar have two of the highest GDP per capita in the world yet Norway ranks fairly average on the OECD scale (25th) and Qatar ranks near the bottom (68th).  How can we explain this phenomenon? While education plays an important role in the overall development of a country and individual growth, there are clearly other factors influencing economic development.

What should we take away from the OECD report? Should the world begin to conform their educational systems to meet the standards of the Asian countries? Are mathematics and science the only subjects that can measure a nations ability to achieve greater educational attainment? Just like there are other variables to consider in measuring economic development there are other important aspects to consider when measuring educational progress.

China is known for its rigorous educational system and is recognized globally for its dominance of standardized testing and educational strength. However, most of these test scores reflect the students ability to memorize and master a narrow amount of information A large amount of time and effort is used to attain these goals, for example, Chinese students often average around 14 hours of homework a week while US students average six hours a week. While this style of learning may be useful for achieving higher test scores, it often has short-term outcomes.

A United Kingdom teacher, Anthony Seldon, recently criticized the OECD tables stating, “They are skewing schools and national education systems away from real learning towards repetitive rote learning.” Many other scholars also question the direction in which global education systems are headed. Systems centered around testing are argued to severely diminish creativity and innovation. Chinese author Yong Zhao discusses the problems involving the Chinese educational system and its inability to encourage creativity and diverse talent. Statistician Howard Steven Freidman also stated that China will need to integrate teaching styles that support creative problem solving rather than memorization.

The United States’ increased focus on standardized testing has shown they are already taking steps towards adopting similar education methods to Asian countries. However, heavy backlash has come from teachers and parents across the country against the new “common core” approach and heavy testing for students. This response seems appropriate when examining some of the most prominent thinkers in history. It is important to acknowledge the great innovators of the past and the present who helped improve the lives of others and contributed to all aspects of development. Intelligence is diverse; moving towards an educational system that forces student’s minds to work in one way not only hinders student’s capabilities but will also have negative repercussions on future development.

_____

Taylor Schaefer is a current graduate student at University of Central Florida studying Political Science. After traveling to more than a dozen countries, Taylor seeks to use her interests in global affairs and human rights to contribute to developmental efforts around the world.

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5 comments

  1. Innovation vs. memorization: What kind of educa... 31 July, 2015 at 12:23 Reply

    […] **The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do…  […]

  2. Is memorization more important than innovation ... 29 September, 2015 at 00:06 Reply

    […] The United States increased focus on standardized testing has shown they are already taking steps towards adopting similar education methods to Asian countries. However, heavy backlash has come from teachers and parents across the country against the new “common core” approach and heavy testing for students. This response seems appropriate when examining some of the most prominent thinkers in history. It is important to acknowledge the great innovators of the past and the present who helped improve the lives of others and contributed to all aspects of development. Intelligence is diverse; moving towards an educational system that forces student’s minds to work in one way not only hinders student’s capabilities but will also have negative repercussions on future development.  […]

  3. Rahul 10 November, 2015 at 01:21 Reply

    This is an all time debatable question. Many countries are concentrating / reforming their education systems in recent times. I agree with Taylor mentioning, “High standard of education is often used as an indicator for economic growth of a country”.

    A country cannot keep one fixed education system it has to evolve gradually. Innovation and memorization are inextricably intertwined. You can’t have one without the other. On a neurological level, they are indistinguishable from each other- when does one end and the other begin? Have you ever learned something without remembering it? Both are an important part of learning as anything else including genetics, motivation, environment & talent.

    We should think on how kids get engaged through interactive activities or interactive technology. Kids don’t hate schools… they hate class. There is a lot happening in motion tracking technology that’s changing the face of fun, education, fitness & entertainment and turning any area / class into an interactive play space. We must embrace this technology in education. We must to takes these visions and projects them onto the Interactive Floor & Interactive Wall which is be a healthy way of blending mental and physical activity, unlike traditional methods. It improves collaboration, participation and cognitive skills in children.

  4. Innovation vs. memorization: What kind of educa... 29 December, 2015 at 00:50 Reply

    […] When it comes to global education goals, is it better to teach skills for innovation or to cover the bases with memorization of facts?  […]

  5. Innovation vs. memorization: What kind of educational system should we strive for? | Journeying365 3 January, 2016 at 03:28 Reply

    […] Source: https://www.theedadvocate.org […]

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