Which must the Yemeni student choose from?Understanding or memorization [Archives:2003/662/Culture]

By Rayan Mohammed
For the Yemen Times
Its 3:30 a.m., a wave of tiredness covers your head like a tsunami. The notion of getting half an hour of sleep comes to mind, but then a voice in your head echoes 'you are going to FAIL'. For most working men and women, this is a distant memory but for most students this is a reality of preparing for examinations.
Yet, less than half of current students actually remember most of their studies a week after their examinations.
Though reasons may vary from inadequate teaching to lack of teaching resources available to specific schools, this is occurring among many students in private schools where tuition fees may start at $500 to a whopping $10,000.
Therefore placing the blame on the poor teaching at such prices definitely means that the students are not getting their money's worth.
Also, blaming the lack of resources in private is also a poor excuse since at these prices the availability of teaching resources should be in abundance. Most of the tuition fees seem to be used for the owners' personal profit, rather than the welfare of the students.
A recent ground of debate among Yemen youth is about the method of testing and learning that students are groomed to adapt. No longer does a Yemeni student have to know the difference between a chemical formula, as long as he can memorize it well enough for his exams?
The way students prepare for exams is saddening thought. It is insulting for the youth's intelligence to memorize pages and pages of data like a computer, neglecting the capable, smart human beings they are and can further become. In reality, schools don't aim to achieve that, but rather simplify their workload, whilst complicating the student's work to the point that the only choice is to memorize and cram the work. A survey of 15 students shows that within a few weeks 10 students don't remember what they have taken in the academic year despite high marks.
What is even more upsetting is that many students choose to do so, since the method of learning is so degrading that the thought of what they learned, spurs feelings of agony and stress.
When asked how they passed the year some say 'I memorized my notebook the night before, went into the exam, unloaded everything I memorized and forgot it just as quickly as I memorized'.
However, some may blame the subjects themselves, with only one exception, which are Islamic studies.
With the subjects of Islamic studies, it is required to memorize passages from the Holy Quran and the Prophet Mohammed's sayings. It is disrespectful and incorrect to misquote any of the above. However, in Arabic language, memorization is the only option. For example, in analyzing poetry, you are expected to memorize how other poets have analyzed a specific passage.
They memorize as many poems and their listed interruptions, without actually understanding the poem itself. Though it is good to gain a basic outline, the student isn't allowed to interrupt Arabic poetry in his/her own unique style and draw his/her own conclusion.
A method used in Egyptian schools allows students to be taught how to interrupt poetry and then asks them to analyze a poem, which they may have never encountered before.
The reality of how memorization takes precedent over understanding is further proven in subjects like Math and Physics, where students are more likely to succeed if they memorize as many possible questions rather than understand the methods of solving the problems.
It is very unlikely that exams are going to change, since the Arab community favors the idea of rigorous and lengthy studying hours rather than a few hours of learning.
It is clearly evident when talking to the older generation, who will tell how lucky the newer generation are, and how much harder they had to study to succeed? Yet, is the current youth really LUCKY for being expected to cram information, and what can we do to prove that memorize a book isn't the only measure of knowledge.
A possible solution would be to test the level of understanding through projects and experiments.
It is proven that science isn't taught through a notebook in a classroom, but rather through experiments in a laboratory. Experiments can show the student how scientific principles such electricity, which otherwise they are expected to memorize, are applied into real life. With languages, both English and Arabic, writing and debates would stimulate the mind.
Poetry seems to have a deeper meaning when the students are allowed to write their own poetry, and try to extract what they learned from famous poets and apply it to their own work.
Also, debates about novels and stories spark an interest in the theme, plot and characters inside the students. With subjects like History, making models and presentations would give the student a feeling for the historic period.
It would make him/her interested in the events and lives of the past, rather than require him/her to memorize a list of names and dates.
In conclusion, it goes without saying that a student is expected to memorize some of his/her work. However, it would more fascinating for the student to be tested on skills that he/she must develop like writing and innovation rather than cram as much notes as possible into his/her head the night before.
It would also have a positive effect on the teachers, as their work would become less monotonous, and their teaching would be more inspiring.
This may help assess a belief among students that schools really are a place of learning, rather than a hoop that the youth must jump through to succeed in their adult life.
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