It is undeniable that although memorization played a crucial role in the education system of the past decade, critical thinking has been centralized in more and more institutions these days. Personally, I believe this is a marked improvement regarding educational outcomes, and explain why in this essay.
When rote-learning was pivotal in our schools, students had no other choices, but learned everything by heart regardless of an exhaustive scope of each subject. That literally led to intensive lengthy study periods with no effective understanding to apply in real-life situations. They had to bury themselves in their books to know the subject inside out. Consequently, some students experienced burning out or depression, where they could not recall several detailed facts in the exam setting. Besides, others were not able to generate effective solutions when dealing with life obstacles because of their lack of comprehending the contexts they memorized rigorously.
Nowadays, as critical analysis ability has been promoted as an essential asset in workplaces, schools are carrying out more curriculum-reform, which can enhance prolific analyzing skills, by incorporating open education resources into in-class hours. Basically, students need to rely on those materials while researching a variety of educational topics, and perform some debates or discussions to stimulate the ideas in their class. This can not only strengthen their mental agility but also develop their sense of independence and responsibility due to the opportunity of regular self-research and challenging activities. However, memorization is still critical when it comes to universal knowledge, a key foundation for critical thinking skills.
All in all, it is considered a significant positive development that current education policies are accentuating “Critical thinking” as it promotes diverse fruitful outcomes for individuals. Meanwhile, rote-learning should not be neglected completely because remembering fundamental concepts is highly important for consecutive analysis.