Thoughts on Memorization Tasks Assigned in School?

My teacher had recently assigned me with the task of memorizing the Gettysburg Address and reciting it in front of my class. My class and I all agree that this assignment is completely useless to our lives and that we will never use it in our futures. One thing I contemplated about having memorizing passages and speeches (and memory in general) is that I believe there is a set level at which one can memorize something and I think some may have fluctuating memorizing skills, therefore it shouldn't be fair to assign this as a graded assignment. What are you opinions on memorizing things for grades? Or knowing speeches like this? Do you think this is important to know, why or why not?

*Note* Sorry if some of this is poorly written it's pretty late.

 

One of the best ways I've taught myself in terms of memorization is this:

Given a speech or long series of words to memorize, break it down into short bits.

For example: narrow down the gettysburg address into shorter bits (2 or 3 lines).

Memorize the first 2 or 3 lines to where you can say them easily. Then memorize the next 2 or 3 lines BUT each time you go to repeat the next 2 or 3, add the first 2 or 3 with it.

Essentially this builds up your speech, and you will memorize things very easily with this method

 

Memorization is terrible. Some people think that if you memorize something you learn it, but that's not true. If you memorize something, you will know it for a few months, but after that you're gonna forget it.

 

Its useless, no need to memorize the shit when it is always accessible to you, schools are teaching the wrong shit...

 

That's exactly how I have been memorizing it.

I agree, I was talking to some of my friends who had already presented and they all said that they had forgot like half it already, overall a horrible waste of educational time.

I couldn't agree more.

 

Memorizing things for the sole purpose of writing it down after or reciting it is useless as you are just going to forget it or well I have after the test or whatever it is and even most things that you need to memorize you easily have accessible as R5V said but learning things is something completely different.

 

I had to do the same thing in HS; it's probably intended to be an easy, non-exam way of earning points. I have nothing against memorization, though I think rote teaching is pretty ineffectual. However this just sounds like a one-off thing. There are lots of things in life you don't want to do but have to for one reason or another, so I would just take the free points and move on.

 

Memorizing the Gettysburg Address is not something you should be trying so hard to learn.

However, memorization skills are very useful in classes like math or chemistry where there are multiple equations that you must know.

 

Exams at high school are essentially a memory test. I memorised so many essays that I didn't know a sentence of the next week - grades don't prove intelligence at high school level at least.

 

You will forget what you memorize most likely. You will only remember some things out of it maybe. I agree with Roary that a lot in highschool is based on memory and I believe the ones that are organising all that are doing it wrong. HOWEVER, dont forget that there will always be things to memorize. Some things, we just cant learn them using another way. Biology is a good example when it comes to memorisation. You just need to know the stuff sometimes.

 

Memory in general is so important in all facets of life. Memorization of a speech can also be equally important, as you will no doubt have to speak in front of an audience sometime in your life, and more you can speak freely without looking at words on paper, the more engaging you can be with your body language, and the better speaker you will be. This could be the difference between success and failure in business. Obviously reciting something word for word is slightly different from memorizing the key ideas you want to say, and talking on the fly, but the skills are fairly transferable.

Is the act of memorizing any speech particularly valuable, probably not unless you actually analyze the speech as well. The skills that come from the actual presentation of the speech, oratory skills, body language engagement, etc are however invaluable. You will find that your teacher will probably not only be marking you on your ability to memorize the speech, but your oratory skills and how you can engage the audience.

 

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/on-learning-by-doing/

 

Memorization for a test is retarded. Memorizing a speech is a fine thing to do since it may help you with public speaking.