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Do schools just test your memory?
As a middle school student I have rather unsatisfactory grades but the way I see it, I just have a bad memory.
Think about it, don't tests technically just assess what you remember and not what you actually know? I could remember that 2 + 2 = 4 but that doesn't mean I know why. I guess this doesn't count for those who actually understand the process.
Please share your opinions with me, I am here to learn.
Topics:
education
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Mitch SMith 50+
What we "know" is no more than the collection of spacial and causal maps retained in our brains.
These are a kind of memory.
These maps define the basis of perception - which has another word: "belief".
we, as humans, have the capacity to share our perceptions with each other.
There are 2 types of perceptional constructs:
1. Intrinsic.
2. Extrinsic.
Intrinsic perception is based on direct obervation of our internal states and external objects/events.
Intrinsic perceptions always remain conditional on continuous observation - they can change and are adaptive.
Extrinsic perceptions are based on artificial association. They are formed as a consenses to accept the association. For instance, I can propose that a pebble associates to a sheep in my flock. The pebble is not the sheep, but if a new lamb is born, I can add a pebble to my collection, if one dies or is eaten, I can remove one. If someone asks me how many sheep are in my flock, instead of going out to count them every time I'm asked, I can simply count the pebbles in my pocket. If the person who asked also accepts my pebble/sheep association, then it has mutual communicative value.
In this example, the extrinsic association of "pebble=sheep" relies on nothing more than the association. It is rendered static - i.e. it cannot ever change without losing its communication value.
Modern schools tend to rely exclusively on static extrinsic perceptions. They rarely admit to the underlying falicy - a pebble is not a sheep.
So when you say 2 + 2 = 4, you are training the extrinsic that 2 represents one thing in the company of another same-thing (2). If the expression (2+2=4) is taught in the absensce of the intrinsic perception, it collapses into a meaningless artifact that is useful only if you are a calculator .. and not even insects would let themselves be reduced to that.
However, the enlighened teacher might explode the extrinsic perceptions into intrinsic framework. E.g. counting pebbles.