The recent domination of U.S. spelling bees by home-schooled students isn't hard to explain: many of their parents see rote memorization as a valuable learning technique, while this old-fashioned practice is frowned upon by most teachers who learned their craft in schools of education. John Derbyshire explores how indispensable memorization is to advanced learning in a National Review article that's loaded with clever mnemonic devices (e.g. "One idle damn Sunday, Dad killed cheating thief and lied to cover it," as a way to remember the Ten Commandments).
"Thanks for the memories," by John Derbyshire, National Review, June 25, 2001. Article not available at www.nationalreview.com.