Memory Training at the expense of Creativity?

I was reading Ariel's Childcare Handbook the other day, and came across a section of her course objectives. From Toddler class to Kindergarten 2, one course objective which caught my attention is that of Memory Training. I must admit that my first reaction was, "Aargh!!! Memory Training?!!! Yikes, sigh, certain things never change after all, in the Singapore school system! No wonder they always say Singaporeans have no creativity!! Of course lar... the emphasis is still on Memory Training!!!"

When I was growing up, I have always hated rote learning and subjects that require memorizing work. I could never do well in subjects like History or Law. I never understood the point of being tested on events that have already passed and what's more, the year they happened in.

Within the same week, I was watching Channel 8 (a Mandarin channel), and saw an advertisement featuring a few 'ang mo' kids who could recite various Chinese poems, and even the 'San Zi Jing'. There were mixed feelings. I was skeptical and thought, "These children are just memorizing.. do they even understand what it means at all?" Yet, I must admit that I was, at the same time, very impressed, and thought, "Wow... they could actually remember all that. It's actually great that the 'ang mo' kids are exposed to Chinese literature at such a young age, while my little Ariel is still struggling to even speak Mandarin!"

So, now I started asking myself, "Does memory training inhibits creativity? How can we incorporate memory training and promote creativity in our children?" I am no educator, and have not been trained to be a teacher, but one thing I want for my children is for them to love learning and not stifle their creativity, yet at the same time, being able to cope with the existing Singapore education system, which requires a certain amount of memorizing.

After thinking through, I could only conclude that it's really the method and the educator's reactions that count.

For the 'ang mo' kids reciting the Chinese poems, perhaps their parents have explained to them that what they are memorizing is written many years ago, by famous Chinese poets. It doesn't matter that they do not understand the poem now, but they will understand the meaning in the future.

For Ariel, she had always been very interested in the alphabet and numbers. Recently, she's fond of turning various letters and numbers around. When she turns the letter 'P', she notices that it becomes a 'd'; and when she turns the number '6' around, it becomes a '9'. She would happily tell me how she notices that one letter/number, when turned around, could become another. Whenever, she does this, I will simply smile, and say, "You are right, darling... it's a 'd'!"

After all, there are many possibilities in this world. Why restrict a child to only one? Memory Training needs not conflict with creativity. i now believe that the 2 can definitely coexist.