He doesn’t know you and there is no guarantee that a pizza vendor would get orders from a particular set of customers only, right?
THIS IS CALLED PRACTICE
Now consider this! Your uncle has moved to a new city and asks you to pay a visit! And you do!
At your uncle’s, your aunt takes you to a nearby grocery store for some shopping for say 2 or 3 days! On the fourth day she asks to hurry to THAT store to get something urgently! So u do it, and do it comfortably!
But say, if she asks you to go to a XYZ shop 4 blocks away ; THEN? Would you be THAT comfortable?
Yeah, you may finally manage to do it but wouldn’t it take much longer? THIS IS ROTE LEARNING!
Now I am answering Mr. TA who commented on my earlier post that
” …Rote learning would not cut it for you..”.
If I am taking up 17 hours then does it necessarily mean that I am ROTE learning? Not , right?
Practice is ALWAYS A KEY to success and it can be referred to as a SYNONYM of HARD-WORK!
And WE DO KNOW THAT HARD-WORK DEMANDS DEDICATION AND THUS TIME!
Now a question may arise “Then what the Hell are we doing in the exercises of our textbooks?
Even if we complete that exercise, when we are given an unknown problem we do stutter ( now many people will write on this that they don’t but i am speaking on a general perspective)” Then how come are we practicing?
Here the problem lies with the concept building!
Generally (MOSTLY i would say) we don’t understand mathematics ( I don’t too).
We become too procedural especially in India!
Tell me What is the use of FOURIER series and Transform? (I hate these two, because they seem to be so puzzling!!)
Many people say “to convert time to freq domain”, “to analyze signals bcoz freq domain analysis is easier”.
Cut it a grab!!! NOBODY OF US KNOW(except those who have tried to find the solution in an alternative way).
BECAUSE WE HAVE NEVER REALLY DONE ANYTHING THAT LEADS TO THE USE OF FS OR FT!
What we do is we solve a set of questions which is meant for doing when you have REALIZED the importance of the topic!
So here we say we are practicing but actually we are ROTE learning!!
So what the aim of such a long boring post?
IT WAS TO BUST A MYTH.
What MYTH?
People think that if you understand a topic then you don’t require TIME to master it and IF you are taking up too much time you are ROTE learning!!
Never!! Understanding a topic and mastering it are TWO totally DIFFERENT aspects of a subject!
Lets put up an example here too.
Say you know biking! Does that imply I can drop you on a RACETRACK and tell you win me the GRAND PRIX?
THATS WHERE PRACTICE MOCKS YOU!!!
SO GUYS IF A PROBLEM TAKES A LONG TIME BEFORE YOU SOLVE IT , remember you are understanding it better and in no way you are ROTE learning!!
Sorry again for such a terrifying length of the post!
Very nice Dev…… you have written right things…… But just think, how many people try to walk on hard path when there is a easy way in front of them????
Naturally understanding needs more time and effort than just rote, isn’t it ????
If I talk of my memorizing skills, I AM A BIG LOOSER and I really feel sorry! So in my undergrad the things that my faculties cudnt xplain and on which I didnt find any books or such things are still VAGUE to me!! Well its NEVER late when you realize!! right??
Loved your post. I can fully empathize with what has been written.
I totally concede in your idea, esp being a student from the Communication undergrad background I could totally relate to your example of FT and FS. A lot of the time students dont learn but just rote it down to clear the exam and dont care about the learning’s future implications.
I have always been a patron of the understand and learn approach and really find that helpful at this stage of this my studies when I am pursuing my MS in US.
In which uni are you?? and Major?? Could you please hep me get grasp of FS & FT in detail! You I had hate these but still I am curious!!! Now I am not asking of a lecture on HSB but some books or websites where the topic is NOT taught but is MADE TO UNDERSTAND!!
oops I missed a “know” in the 2nd line
Wonderful post!!!!
Unfortunately education system in India encourages rote learning.
But raghu in the long run the way the Indian mind is trained because of our schooling system it thrives and adapts in any enviroment where the systems are in place(aka developed countries)…..all indians need is self confidence…even in american universities indians excel because the way our mind is trained through our schooling is that we can pick up any skill in 2-3 weeks…mind is like a muscle and we go through a lot of stress testing intially….
I would encourage indians not to give up on our system because thats the one thing we have….highly trained minds…we just need the right systems in place(which is the responsibility of the corrupt fuckin politicians) ….but if we change our high school education system without first changing our university and college system…then its game over…we will lose the one skill that makes us stand out in this world…physically we re not the best looking bunch of people or the tallest or the strongest….but our minds are sharp and trained…we need to continue to leverage that…..the other thing is its rubbish that we are not entrepreneurial or creative…look at silicon valley…look at wall street look at canada , london….indians are starting companies everywhere ….even in the beareucratic mess in india indians are starting companies….so its a system thats missing……rote learning has its advantages..its bootcamp for the human brain….serves well in the long run…i rote learned merchant of venice and julius caesar and tempest and poems and history and geography for my 10th standard ICSE…guess what…8 years later i remember it word to word…and the knowledge helps me connect with people who are literature majors or theatre majors over here in america
thanx
what is your score anu…first attempt …secound attempt score…
keep looking for external validation …….you have some serious issues….you sound like a frustrated chump….oh and a piece of advice…applications are a holistic processs…your gre is but a tick mark on the admission committee members file….
Frustrated????? ME???? NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!!! What made you infer that?? What i wanted to tell you that taking up time to study does not imply Iam Rote learning!!! JUST THAT!!!
Now you called me a CHUMP right??? So naturally i should get angry and blast you right??? But what happened is I learned a new word. Yeah i didnt know that word!! Thanks! See its about the thinking process only!!! BTW you still cant get my POINT!!! Its not about GRE!!!! Its about the WHOLE Learning thing and GRE is just a part of this BIG THING!!! Whatever, I have tried my best!! GOD BLESS YOU!
Very true! Actually working to understand something is a much better method than rote memorization. In fact, though it may take you more time in the beginning, later on in life it will actually save you more time!
And my friend TA says I am frustrated!!! LOL
practice makes man perfect. For me it applies in taking GRE second time.