The marching morons - Facts and figures are old hat - not

[Robert Henderson]

Letter to Telegraph

Sir,

The headmaster of Wellington College Anthony Seldon may think (10 Nov)
that memorising facts and figures is out of date but the real world
thinks otherwise for two reasons.

The first is obvious, namely, people need to have information in their
heads to efficiently carry out jobs. Try telling a heart surgeon he
should be googling the anatomy of the heart while he is operating. More
mundanely, watch this generation struggling to complete the simplest
piece of arithmetic without the aid of a calculator and think about the
time they waste.

The second is what I call the intelligence of erudition. Anyone who has
gained a deep knowledge of a subject will know that there comes a point
where a much deeper understanding than knowledge of the individual facts
emerges.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Henderson

Telegraph

Schools being 'turned into exam factories'
Memorising facts and figures in the classroom is becoming increasingly
redundant because most information is available on the internet,
according to a leading headmaster.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor
Published: 10:00PM GMT 09 Nov 2009

Schools should place less emphasis on rote learning and the "testing of
knowledge"? in exams, said Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College,
Berkshire.

He said there should be a greater focus on skills such as analysing
information, critical thinking, reasoning, debating and philosophy amid
fears the existing system is still rooted in Victorian times.

Independent schools attacked by headmaster Speaking before a conference
at Wellington on Tuesday, Dr Seldon said: "Students still need to learn
facts but we need to move away from memorising them in a slightly
mindless way towards appreciating what all this information means and
how it relates to different things.�

He added: "Ours is now a mind-driven economy, and yet we educate our
children as if we are in a previous century.

"The availability of facts and knowledge at our fingertips through the
internet means that we have to restructure what's taught in schools,
balancing the acquisition of knowledge with more valuable skills of
analysis, critical thinking, synthesising ideas and abstract
reasoning."?

--
Robert Henderson
Personal website: http://www.anywhere.demon.co.uk