I posit there are two types of people who want to kill rote memorization.
1) Those to whom memorization comes easily without much drilling, so such experiences in the classroom was an exercise in pain and drudgery.
2) Those to whom rote memorization is nigh impossible or only happens with herculean effort. Such experiences in the classroom was an exercise in pain and drudgery.
Both want to eliminate this pain for future generations. I will put forth that both camps are severely wrong.
I don't like it don't get me wrong. Especially in subjects like math or coding where it really makes no sense to purely memorize without understanding - but the practice is absolutely necessary for understanding and mastery.
Take the study of history. The sequence of events and causal relationships are what is important, not the exact dates and times.
Research (in prepublication right now) done by my wife has shown that students are more engaged with the study of history the less it has to do with Jeopardy questions and the more it has to do with situating their life experiences, goals and passions into the flow of humanity through time, often letting them choose to focus on aspects of history that are traditionally ignored, like fashion, household labor, just to name a few.
There is extensive literature on how rote memorization is counter to many of the goals of education, which I can point you to if you have access to an academic digital library (and after consulting with my wife and her peers as this is not my area of expertise).
Higher education recognizes the unimportance of memorization in that the frequency of open-note and open-book exams increase through undergrad to graduate education.
You would be incredibly surprised at how much better of a conversation I am having on this topic with my wife, an academic education researcher, than on these forums.
1) Those to whom memorization comes easily without much drilling, so such experiences in the classroom was an exercise in pain and drudgery.
2) Those to whom rote memorization is nigh impossible or only happens with herculean effort. Such experiences in the classroom was an exercise in pain and drudgery.
Both want to eliminate this pain for future generations. I will put forth that both camps are severely wrong.