Edumacation

There is this bizarre notion in education that rote learning is unnecessary and harmful to children.  I went to a gifted school and we had multiplication drills, spelling tests, history tests, science tests. When I was in grad school, teaching math, kids couldn't do basic math without a calculator, couldn't spell... I don't know what they knew about history or science, but I'm guessing not much. I think it's great to encourage creative thinking in kids, but there just is a certain amount of rote learning you have to do before you can successfully move on to a higher level of study.