How much should we memorize?

When I was a fifth grader, I had to memorize the capitals of all fifty states.  It was something we all had to do and students probably still have to do it today.  I don’t think my life has been better because I memorized all the capitals.  I can recall a handful of times in the last thirty years when one of the capitals would come up in conversation. 

Just last month, during the drive back to Ohio, we passed a car with Minnesota plates.  For some reason I asked my wife the capital of Minnesota.  I couldn’t remember it.  Neither could she.  Our guess was Minneapolis, but it was just a guess. We both scored 100% on that fifth grade test, and to my knowledge I haven’t been asked the capital of Minnesota since the 70’s.

When I got home, I looked it up.  It took about five seconds to find.  Not only did I find that Saint Paul is the capital, but also that it has a population of 287,151 according to the 2000 census.  I found a map showing the city’s location in the state and it happens to be right next to Minneapolis.  I read that the city is also known as “Pig’s Eye” because of a local tavern owned by a man who was blind in one eye.

That is more information than I have ever known about Minnesota’s capital.  I will probably retain some of it because I was authentically interested in knowing about it.  In a pinch I will just look it up again.

There are pieces of information that must be memorized.  Elementary math facts are critical as students learn to do more complex mathematics.  Every subject area has some items that must be memorized, but it seems like our students still focus on memorizing as the main skill.

The process of memorizing does get the brain working.  I still play Brain Age and one of my favorite games is the 30 word memorization.  I have found that I can generally function better when I play these games because my brain just works better. 

Once my brain is working, I want to put it to better use than just memorizing trivia.  I want to use it to solve problems.