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To some extent. History can be more focused on knowing concepts than factoids and dates. "Explain the role the industrial revolution played in the rise of the B
by makmanalp 12y ago
To some extent. History can be more focused on knowing concepts than factoids and dates. "Explain the role the industrial revolution played in the rise of the British Empire" is a way better exam question than "When was the British Empire founded?".
- baddox 12y agoBoth of those questions require memorization.
- triplesec 12y agoeverything requires memory. You are being obstreperous. Memory alone against considered, analyical skills is the issue here.
- afafsd 12y agoIf you want to define the debate in that way then sure, memory plus considered analytical skills is better than memory without analytical skills, but I don't think anyone was questioning that. People are more likely to question the importance of memorising things (because it's "boring") than of considered analytical skills. One question that pops into my mind: can considered analytical skills actually be taught? I'm not sure they really can, they might be just plain old innate, in which case perhaps classes should focus on the thing that can be taught, which is stuff.
- WalterBright 12y ago> can considered analytical skills actually be taught? Yup. I came out of college far better at that than going in.
- baddox 12y agoI'm being serious. You need to memorize a lot more facts to answer those "why" questions than you do do answer what year some war started.