Carl Sandburg and Lincoln

[LincolnMan]

I'm having mixed thoughts about the memorization vs. analysis approaches. Maybe the best solution would be to incorporate both. Like Roger, I was required to memorize certain documents-and to this day I can still quote them pretty well (there has been some slippage!). I experienced that when required to memorize something-that very act also led me to consider the words/sentences carefully-and to actually think about what I was memorizing.
I don't care at all for the "let's have no grades" approach to education. Maybe I'm just "old school" (no pun intended). That is the same thinking that doesn't want to have winners and losers in sport activities. To me, that kind of thing doesn't promote excellence. Hey, if I'm in a fox-hole in a combat situation-give me an "expert" rifleman by my side to watch my back-not someone who barely passed qualification.