On a recent family vacation to an exotic faraway land I traveled in a tour group with a world famous oncologist. An attractive, youthful woman in her early 40′s, with a thriving career, three well behaved young girls and a loving husband she was to me a picture of accomplishment, a portrait of how much women can achieve in the post feminist era. As we spoke one afternoon the subject of education came up, and of course our mutual grievances about the New York City public school system was touched upon. She told me a fascinating story about a woman who recently worked with her, and this story has haunted me for weeks afterwards. I think this is one of those stories I will never forget.

My doctor friend had hired a fellow recently. A brilliant young woman, a model of the American dream. This young lady was the daughter of immigrants from a 3rd world country, and had herself been born outside of the US. Her parents worked long hours in blue collar fields while their daughter excelled in school. She graduated as a valedictorian from a top NYC high school, winning the top prize in a prestigious science competition along the way. She excelled in Harvard undergraduate and finished a top medical school. She then graduated from a residency with a top hospital. By the time my friend hired this young lady as a fellow it was clear and apparent that this woman was on her way to becoming a true star in the medical field. Or was she?

Within days of hire it became clear something was very wrong. The young woman was unable to do basic tasks such as handle patients or direct the staff. She was even unable to answer her emails on time or assign reports to be typed up in a timely manner. This young woman, a model of brilliance and achievement couldn’t do tasks an intelligent high school student would do with ease. My friend and the other members of staff knew something was very wrong. Was it a brain tumor? A nervous breakdown? Was the reason physical, psychological or both? Working in a top hospital in the nation they were very lucky to have access to the best medical care in our system. They ordered a battery of tests. One by one all possible reasons were ruled out. She had no brain tumor, she had no evidence of a nervous break down or severe depression. There was nothing wrong with this young doctor. She was perfectly healthy and fine, except that she couldn’t handle the tasks assigned to her, and was unable to actually be a doctor.

Then my friend, never one to pass up a challenge began to dig deeper. She looked at the young doctor’s college and medical school transcripts, and even at her high school records. She looked at the science prizes her fellow had won. She contacted her professors. The picture that emerged was… disturbing. This brilliant young doctor had proven time and again that she had two very important qualities. First was an amazing memory. Second was an ability to work restlessly for about 18 hours a day. None of her projects had a single strain of original thought. All had been restatements of someone else’s work. Her college grades were stellar, and this was because in most of her pre-med classes she was required to memorize rather than understand. Her medical school did not assign grades, but if they had chances are they would have presented two very different pictures. On the one hand, those classes where route memorization and recall were required she would have excelled in. In those classes were original thought and problem solving had been required she would have failed in. By the time my friend began to dig into the young woman’s residency it was clear she could not keep her as a fellow. By residency a picture of a woman who couldn’t keep up emerged, but she had managed to slide in by nothing but sheer ability to memorize and extreme work ethic. She fired the woman and although she tried to help her find another job she could not do so in the medical field. It was clear and apparent that if this young woman was responsible for lives it would end badly. In the end nobody is quite sure what happened to her, as everyone who worked with her lost touch.

This is not an exaggerated illustration I created to make a point. This is a very real story. This is obviously also a very extreme case. But it did make me think. How often do we encourage our children to memorize rather than to understand? What does it say about our school system that the young woman who succeeded so well in it was the one who could not understand but rather memorize? What does it say about how we educate our children? Is this what we truly want? Or need in our society?

I sometimes find myself slipping back into a soviet way of thinking. Drill, drill, drill was the best method to learning. But is that still the case? After all, every piece of information one might ever need can now be found within seconds at our fingertips. But a computer, no matter how fast and how connected is still incapable of performing the feats of problem solving a simple human brain can. So when I think about education I understand that memorization has very little to do with it anymore. Of course, some facts must be remembered. Facts and understanding have always been two essential components of education. But to continue to innovate we must continue to problem solve. To lead we must teach our children to understand. This is what education in the 21st century has to be.

What we must as parents remember, is that there are many paths to success for our children. But every path is paved with ability to think, problem solve and process information. It is our responsibility to give these tools to our children, so that they can build the life they want to live. And to build a better world for us all.

At Brainy Academy we do not use the drill method. We work with children ages 2 to 12 and we create various pathways to teach children how to think and to problem solve effectively. If you’d like to learn more about our programs please contact us at (347) 450 3123.

Viktoria Altman
Mother of 2 boys
Owner of Brainy Academy of Sheepshead Bay
President of Brainy Academy Tutoring and Enrichment Services