Learning & Buffets

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I was a glutton when I was in college. Actually, I still think I am. I miss the days when I was younger, when I had a black hole in my stomach, able to consume 2 large pizzas all by myself. I was the bane of buffets, they dislike me. That's because I try to eat my money's worth. I will as try as many dishes as I can and go for the dishes that I think cost the most. I know what you're thinking, don't judge me but you know how it is. As students, you try to eat a few meals worth of food before hibernating.

My buffet days of course are over. As I grow older I find buffets to be not as appealing as they used to be. In fact, with my metabolism, it is a waste to even attempt to eat my money's worth at a buffet. I speak of buffet because of an age old studying technique that has remained as the default learning method in some countries. That method is memorizing.

If one were to compare memorizing and buffets, there are some similarities that can be found. These similarities however, are not very conducive for learning. The first reason is because stuffing yourself full of food or knowledge is just not a good idea.

Stuffing Yourself Full

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After I have stuffed myself full of food from buffets. I feel heavier, groggy and sick. Similarly, some education systems with a focus on memorization are built similar to a buffet, with a twist. During buffets, you get to pick and choose the dishes you like and eat as much as you want to. These systems however forces you to try all the dishes without exception.

As the students are forced to try all the different dishes of the buffet, they will be tested on how much they have eaten. The cycle is seen in how content is taught to students. The system sets out how much content needs to be delivered, the students will be fed information and later, they will be tested on it. If the tests were short and easy, this is not a problem. However, what if the test encompasses three years of your learning? It is likely that you will end up stuffing yourself full of knowledge before the exams.

This however, is not right as learning should not be measured by how much one can retain but how much one learns. This involves application and creating something out of the knowledge taught.

Enjoying The Process

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Learning is supposed to be an enjoyable process, just like eating out, its supposed to be an enjoyable experience. However, imagine if strict objectives were set for your buffet lunch. An example would be that you could only try one dish every 5 minutes or that you need to leave after an hour. While these requirements are not unreasonable, it diminishes a certain level of enjoyment.

When it comes to learning, the more requirements are set, the more the entire process seems like a chore, something that one has to get through rather than something that one enjoys. One of these requirements is the exam system. Now I get it, students have to be assessed in order to see if they have acquired the knowledge necessary for their future. However, if one were conduct exams too frequently or punish the students for not doing well in the exams, it creates a stressful atmosphere for learning.

That is because the focus is taken away from understanding how something works to just getting a good result. If learning is not the primary focus, some students may resort to cheating and memorizing just to avoid being punished.Similarly, strict requirements on a buffet may cause you to gobble up your food or feel restricted. Which leads us to the next point.

The Vomit

I know someone who has vomited from eating too much at a buffet. This was due to how she was trying to eat her money's worth. The worse part was that she got hungry again after vomiting everything out. Thus, the entire buffet trip was a waste of time and money. This however, is the same when it comes to learning via memorizing.

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Students will try their very best to stuff their head full of information. I remember students stuffing their head full of knowledge. On the day of the exam, they will vomit out every strand of information memorized throughout the last few days. Fast forward 3 months after the exams, they will not remember a single thing that they have read throughout the exam. This akin to vomiting out everything you have eaten, is similar to vomiting out all information retained for an exam. Once it is all out, your past few years of supposedly studying and understanding certain concepts would have gone to waste.

Thus, I wonder if we have created a generation of students who are great at remembering, but not so good in applying what was learnt. I wonder if we have created a generation who can retain large amount of information but lack the wisdom to use it creatively. It is scary especially since creativity and application are skills that are becoming increasingly important in a world dominated by robots and artificial intelligence.

There is no quick fix to this. A good way is to focus on comprehension instead of memorization, to encourage the students to internalize and understand what they are learning instead of blindly remembering random knowledge from a textbook. Then maybe then, perhaps we would bring the joy back to learning again.

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