Remember how everyone was in on the Santa Clause thing? I mean everyone. It scares me. It scares me a lot. It makes me wonder what else am I being lied to on such a grand scale? Things I take for granted to be true because everyone knows them.
When I think I’m being paranoid, I think about Santa Clause. NORAD tracks Santa Clause on Christmas Eve and publishes HIS LOCATION on their website. Freakin’ NORAD is even in on this one.
Don’t know what NORAD stands for?
It stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command. How about them apples.
If something makes no sense at all, please don’t use the “everyone else is doing it” argument. It is entirely possible that everyone else is wrong or that everyone else is flat out lying to you.
Let me show you one particular place you’ve been misled (aka lied to).
The other day I got this email from a community member that made me sad.
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I have purchased all your resources … however, not sure if I utilize it in the best way.
I have gaps in taking the test…
what can you recommend .. I have the final step .. but refrain from rote memorization.
***
I responded by asking, “Why?”
The individual replied…
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Just want to understand concepts and not just memorize
***
I do not have words for how frustrating this is or how sad it is. We hold our heads high and say,
“We are above rote memorization. Memorization was for a simpler time, before the internet. No longer will I subject myself to the tedium of memorizing things when I could easily look them up. I have UpToDate. I have Epocrates. What silliness to memorize things.”
So very sad.
Having ready knowledge is the jumping off point for understanding and for increasing knowledge.
I like to use math as an example here. Do you know a major reason Chinese students are better at math than U.S. Students? They have a huge mental library of memorized math facts. We use calculators.
If you have to stop and count on your fingers to do 12 x 12, it’s hard to get through calculus. Not impossible of course, but really time consuming.
If you didn’t memorize the alphabet, you couldn’t read. If you didn’t memorize medical vocabulary, we couldn’t talk about medicine. You absolutely need rote memorization. The demonization of rote memorization in the West is a terrible thing. I would argue rote memorization is the base of all learning.
“Wait a minute, Brian. You always talk in your podcasts about understanding. Are you flip-flopping on us?”
No, absolutely not. Understanding helps memorization and memorization helps understanding. They feed each other.
Humans are not hardwired to memorize facts. We are awful at straight up facts, but we are awesome at remembering stories. Understanding a process helps you to remember it because it’s kind of like a story. Once you “get it,” you have it memorized. Or at least you can recreate the memory because you have a story.
But, with more memorized facts, you can remember more about the stories, which help you remember more facts, which help you remember more complex stories, which help you remember more facts.
DO NOT lock yourself away in your IVORY tower and think you are above memorizing facts. You have been led astray. Thank goodness I’m here to point you in the right direction.(I know I can pull that last line off in person, but I’m not sure it comes across as funny in the written word. Hope so.)
In any event, to help you get back to your roots, grab yourself a copy of The Final Step 2.0.This book is 100% purely about memorization. Nothing else. No understanding. No explanations. It’s just rapid-fire medical facts. Boom, boom, boom. Facts, facts, facts.
It’ll be on sale through the weekend or when we sell out of books. Whichever comes first.
Get it while it’s hot.
Brian Wallace