<p>I think OP needs to first take a proper statistics class.</p>
<p>Albert Einstein wasn’t terrible at memorizing. He was, however, quoted as saying something to the effect of “never memorize something that you can look up in a book.” That means he didn’t memorize things if he could help it. That doesn’t mean he was poor at memorizing. Don’t misconstrue what other people say.</p>
<p>Abilities in memorization and critical thinking skills are not inversely related. Just because Einstein was incredibly intelligent despite de-emphasizing memorization doesn’t mean that people with great skills in memorization will de-emphasize critical thinking. Don’t choose non-representative samples, and don’t confuse the inverse of a statement as being true. Just because Einstein de-emphasized memorization doesn’t mean that all intelligent people de-emphasize memorization. Don’t extrapolate.</p>
<p>You cannot possible comment on the state of “today’s education.” Every country, state, district, school, and teacher will teach the standard material differently. In fact, I don’t know many teachers who still abide by rote memorization to teach students.</p>
<p>I think that the most intelligent and successful students have impressive abilities to both memorize and think critically.</p>
<p>Don’t be one of those kids who thinks himself smart because he scored a 2300 SAT and is a member of Mensa despite a mediocre GPA on the standard academic track.</p>
<p>In general, you have to have good memorization to be very smart. Your brain constantly makes connections between the neurons that are responsible for new information. If your brain is not storing the information properly, there is nothing to connect. Einstein may have had a “bad memory”, however, you must remember that there are several types of memories. Some that we can recall actively and some that we recall subconsciously. </p>
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<p>I don’t see how you think memory and intelligence are not linked. Innovators are those who are able to put two and two together in ways that we never thought of before. This becomes a lot easier if you have a good memory of what the hell each piece was. Sure, those who know all the facts and just sit around get nothing done, but you have to have a good memory of the facts to have good application.</p>
<p>“Einstein applied directly to the Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland. Lacking the requisite Matura certificate, he took an entrance examination, which he failed, although he got exceptional marks in mathematics and physics.”</p>
<p>Everyone has there abilities, but as they increase, the others decrease.</p>
<p>@derek260 - I agree with you, but I never said Einstein had 0 memory ability. Just less, but more idea. He had enough to learn the basics and then he improved them.</p>
<p>^ You don’t know why he failed, do you? And he received top marks in math and physics, which are the areas in which he went on to achieve greatness.</p>
<p>@noimagination - And he failed English & Literature. His mathematics ability is high, but his language ability is low. What causes this disproportional change then?</p>
<p>No. I can’t believe how incredibly wrong you are. Real life is not an RPG. you’re not given a set amount of points to distribute among your skills and talents.</p>
<p>The following is true: You can choose to specialize in a particular field. Doing so will increase your abilities in that field, but because you have now dropped other pursuits, you’re abilities in those other pursuits will either stagnate. It is because you are concentrating on one field, putting time that you would otherwise have devoted to others, that causes your skills in other areas to diminish with time.</p>
<p>Some people can be better at every aspect of life than other people. Those other people are just unlucky. Just because someone is exceptionally good in one aspect does not mean he sucks at all others. That’s a completely ridiculous notion.</p>
<p>What you don’t seem to realize is that Einstein was BORN with greater abilities in math/science than in literary arts. I read an article a while back about the composition of Einstein’s brain. He had an abnormally high number of astrocytes (a super complex communication cells) in the regions of his brain dealing with imagery and complex thinking. This is mainly the reason why his genius was able to flourish. Chances are, he was always better at math and science than literature or history. His abilities did not decrease in one area because they increased in another. </p>
<p>If they were truly inversely related, Einstein would be almost completely linguistically deficient. Certainly not quotable.</p>
<p>If math and language abilities were negatively correlated, there would be almost no one with a perfect 2400 on the SAT because this would require success on all three sections.</p>
<p>@noimagination using your reading & derek260 post, then why was Einsteins english ability low through elementary to pre-college?? Can you post why?</p>
<p>@SilverTurtule - Have you ever thought they were at an equal proportion to the difficulty of the SAT test? And you can just study for SAT.</p>
<p>They were low because his brain just wasn’t “built” that way or he just never took much interest in the subject. The part where you claim that his English abilities were “low through elementary to pre-college” should suggest to you that it was not a gradual decrease, but just how he always was.</p>