Imagine being thrown into a job and you are asked to complete a task, but all you can do is report facts and solve equations. Do we really have to imagine that scenario? After 13 years of schooling, are students actually prepared to enter the real world and able to think critically outside of the classroom?

Throughout school, every student is told to memorize everything they learn so they can reiterate that for a test. However, is memorization actually learning? Can any student actually remember what they learned last year, or even last week? These problems become more and more common throughout school careers. It seems as though learning has turned into memorization rather than application.

There has been an increase in the amount of students who can’t learn to problem solve. Test scores have been recently dropping whether it be on the Keystone tests or the AP tests given to juniors and seniors. Do the recent dropping of test scores concur with the fact that students no longer know to problem solve?

Tests are supposed to test your knowledge; how can they do so when all you do is memorize random pieces of information? Your intelligence shouldn’t be based on memorization. Intelligence should be judged based off how well a person can apply their knowledge to a real life problem.

Memorization is different than application. Almost every class gives you material to memorize, but doesn’t teach you how to apply that information to your life. Every student just memorizes facts knowing it often won’t benefit them later on in their life. Applying information students learn can help them advance their critical thinking skills. Building on these critical thinking skills allows you to gain skills that can help you solve real world problems. These skills can help a person stand out and think creatively. It has been proven that intelligence correlates with creativity. How can a person be creative if all they know how to do is memorize information?

What is more important for students to learn? Many people need to learn how to problem solve on the spot for job interviews or jobs in general. People go to job interviews and have to stand out in order to get the job. If every student memorizes the same things, how are they going to stand out when going for an interview? When a person goes to work, they aren’t going to be given paperwork to memorize, they are going to be given a problem which they quickly have to solve.

Imagine a scenario where kids are no longer as stressed out as they are now because they are learning how to problem solve and can know they don’t have to memorize a variety of information for a test. Students can spend more time bettering themselves for the future and not become stressed over every test they take in school.

Students need to learn how to apply their knowledge to real life scenarios. They won’t get very far just by memorizing facts. As tests become more application based, students need to learn how to properly answer those questions. The important thing to remember is that memorization is not learning. One can only learn by applying what they learned to a real problem that they could deal with at some point in their lives.