Every person's memory is his private literature.  ~Aldous Huxley

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.  ~Michel de Montaigne

I recently had a bit of a strange experience, which was my inspiration for this article. So let the first briefly share it with you: I started taking Spanish classes this summer, but could not take the exam at the end, because I went on vacation. When I came back two weeks later I went to take the exam, and looking at the exam paper, my mind was completely blank. I could not remember anything. I studied! Maybe not too much, because everything was still pretty fresh in my memory. Or at least I thought it was. Even more strange, I started remembering French, which I had taken for about 5 years, but its been two years since then!

Has something like this ever happen to you before?

It was a first for me. And it really got me thinking. Yes, of course I know about short-term and long-term memory. But I have never met face to face with this phenomenon before, and so clearly.

So let me first explain a bit in case you're not familiar with the subject. Memory works in two different ways: short-term and long-term. The difference is the length of time the information is stored.

The information stored in short-term memory is available only for a limited period of time, but long-term memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited period of time. Its capacity is immeasurably large.

So that is why you can remember which flowers grew in your mother's garden when you were four years old, but you can't remember what your teacher said just ten minutes earlier. Strange, isn't it?

So my question is, when do we use which memory type, and is it possible to do it consciously?

It seems to me that the entire system of education, not just in Turkey, but in the world, is based on short-term memory. It's overloaded, unorganized and mostly unnecessary. Students are given a chaotic soup of information, from which it is hoped that they retain at least, I don't know, maybe 20% at most? At least the basics. But some don't even retain that much.

There is a bit of a logic behind this system, I suppose, to expose the students to a maximum variety of different subjects, so they learn a little bit of everything and later in life can choose, already knowing a bit about their specialty. But does that work really? I went to a private high school in Ukraine. We had advanced physics, chemistry, law, economics, maths. I graduated with excellence. Now, I sometimes hesitate when counting change when buying things.

I think there is a difference between giving students a large variety of information, and pushing them to a point of exhaustion. After a while, if there is too much, instead of learning a bit of everything, you learn nothing at all. If there is too much, the memory gets tired and confused.

Really, it seems strange that teachers don't understand this when creating syllabuses. Give students 30 pages to read, or give them a summary? And if they want more details, then give them a book. In a perfect world they would read. But we have to be realistic and practical. People simply do not need to know the detailed and inner workings of every subject. They need practical knowledge. And when they choose what they want to do in life, then they can go into details. But then it will be voluntary.

I think that the difference between whether or not you use short term memory or long term isn't only in repetition. It has to do with interest. If you like a subject, if it is important to you, or if it is fun, you are much more likely to remember.

I had a math teacher in 6th grade, who was the best teacher I ever had. He once made us all close our eyes, while he went out and came back with a guitar, pretending to be our teacher's twin brother, and played/sang us a song in which some of the lyrics were math formulas we had to memorize. About 8 years later, I still remember the melody and lyrics to the song. Enough said.

What do you think?

Related Posts : education, life, memory