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Learning by rote good for brain

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-09 08:01

Comment on "Teaching students to think creatively" (China Daily website, Dec 1)

I learn Chinese by myself and find that it is practically impossible to build a decent vocabulary without repeatedly going over a set of words each day and/or reciting a few poems.

There is nothing wrong with learning by rote, by memorization per se. In fact, it is very healthy because it activates certain part of the brain, which is even desirable for those approaching old age.

Building and remembering constantly a big vocabulary keeps the mind (forgive the expression) on its toes. Chinese characters are ideograms, which a person has to remember, store and recall. They have to be treated like pictures.

Memorizing a large set of moves in chess and weiqi is very healthy exercise - some even say that apart from keeping the mind healthy in old age, it also helps a person to live longer.

It is somewhat daft to think that one form of learning may retard, say, creativity - even if we cannot agree on what creativity itself is.

Archie Bunker, on China Daily website

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