“He could remember the fact for just a minute after reading it but then on sample tests would not be able to recall that fact. He couldn’t get it into his long-term memory. He had always compensated for this by writing well and spending considerable effort on assignments to offset his test score. What would he do with the PSAT coming up?” (Philip 178)

I chose this passage as my MVP for this week, because I sympathized with Todd. I have awful memory as well, and I tend to forget class material immediately after the test – which is quite unfortunate because I’m a history major and it’s technically my job to remember. Nonetheless, I had never been very good at retaining material for long periods of time, and as a direct consequence I despise cumulative finals. I, like Todd, prefer essays and projects – things that I can take home with me and mull over. I’ve also noticed that I recall material better if I had done a project on it or wrote an essay about it, as opposed to rote memorization. This definitely calls into the question of if testing truly is the only way to measure one’s intelligence.

Honestly, I sometimes like rote memorization because it’s easier to study for and I often get higher grades. But I know that I’m not learning anything of use because I’m going to forget about it the minute I leave the test room, and as an educator I realize the value of actual learning as opposed to a better test grade. Therefore, it would be nice if traditional testing tested concepts and ideas as opposed dates and names. This is especially true in history, where nearly every date is somehow important and crucial. Yes, some dates are more important and immortalized than others, but intelligence shouldn’t be hinged on remembering the minute details. I’ve had class both in high school and college, where exams were solely based on memorizing the details and I’ve performed well on the exams, but I can’t for the life of me remember what we learned about or even the professor’s name now. I’ve come to appreciate exams and essays that require deeper thinking and analysis of the topic because I have better recall on these topics later in life. I am well aware of how much more time and effort the latter exams require because grading is exponentially harder when the answers become more subjective, but I think for a deeper learning, educators should aim to test beyond just the facts.

I am also an advocate for such type of learning because why must we place our students in a position where their only option is to take mind-altering drugs to perform well on a test? Is education really doing its job if a student feels the need to jeopardize their wellbeing for a grade? Students should be excited and enthusiastic about school, and it’s upsetting when the pressure of success weighs down so heavily on students that they begin to think of ways to circumvent the actual learning process.