The Important Role of Rote Learning
The most accomplished musicians in the world practice their scales. Professional golfers hit millions of range balls. They repeat the same drills over and over, long after they should have mastered the skills.
Their goal is to reinforce automaticity - the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details. The musician seeks to play notes with perfect pitch. When doing so becomes automatic, his mind is free to focus on the more nuanced skills of interpretation. The golfer wants to develop a swing that his muscles remember – a swing that is repeatable. When striking the ball becomes automatic, he can better attend to variables such as alignment, potential hazards or approach angles.
Schools are often criticized for focusing too heavily on rote skills. Yet in the arts, or in sports, these skills are revered as “fundamentals.” For any complex skill (be it reading, solving a story problem, or hitting the green with an approach shot), the learner will perform better if the fundamental, low-level details are automatic. We build automaticity through repetition of the skill in isolation.
As long as we remember that the purpose of this repetition is to serve a higher goal, we should never apologize for requiring our students to practice their fundamentals.