The weak link between memorization and behavior

Here's the lead from today's Washington Post column by Fareed Zakaria:

We’ve all read stories about how Americans don’t care about history. A few years ago, a survey found that barely 1 in 3 Americans could pass the citizenship test that is required of all immigrants seeking naturalization. But that tells us more about the decline of civics education than about what Americans value. In fact, the United States has always passionately discussed and debated its past. We are going through a particularly bitter period of contestation now, as some Americans argue for a deeper reckoning with our history and others decry what they see as efforts to denigrate the country.

I liked the strategy the writer chose in presenting a piece of information that SEEMS applicable (not to mention "everyone knows...") and then abruptly presenting a different and far more subtle argument.

Transitions are so important in good writing, and those "change of direction" transitions, like the conjunction "but," help weave our arguments into logical observations, claims and support.

Zakaria's main claim begins with the idea that being able to answer test questions might be more about studying the right things and practicing the answers (so you don't forget).

I was thinking about my four years of Latin in high school in regard to the whole "use it or lose it" theory of education. I sort of use Latin every day, since so many English words are derived from that tongue, but I'm certain I would fail even the more rudimentary test asking me to translate even a chapter of two of The Aeneid. I have a hazy memory that we did exactly that senior year, and I managed to survive the course.

But I stopped trying to translate Latin texts as part of moving on from high school... in other words, as soon as I could. 

Many Americans who are stumped by basic questions about our history once knew most of the answers. Well, that's my guess. 

Almost anyone can memorize a poem or song or speech or short piece of prose with enough time and repetition. You don't need to be a genius to rattle off the lyrics to "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General," for instance -- and I can do that -- but you need to have sung the song over and over until it becomes muscle memory.

In fact, if I stop to think about individual words or have to begin in the middle of a verse, I come to a confused stop. If I turn off the critical part of my brain, I tend to sail right through that rapid patter song from 1880. 

If the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment don't come to mind immediately when someone asks, should that be thought of as a lack of education? Heck no! That's just an indicator that you haven't had to practice repeating those ideas lately.

Have you ever noticed that the people who are most critical of those who can't recite basic facts about, well, anything, are always people who have made an effort to remember that facts. 

Of course we should all be able to answer most of the questions asked of a new American citizen, but those answers have little to do with how we behave.