Chinoys of my age (and older) may remember these textbooks. I called them as the "symbol of trauma". It was memorizing something without understanding it. One would just memorize (without understanding it) because it was typical. Not being able to memorize what was assigned? Get a bad grade? One can expect physical punishment like hitting the hand with a ruler or chili in the mouth. Chinese language teachers are stereotypically strict. The language textbooks (above) are what were used during the 1990s to the early 2000s. As I wrote it, the Sinjiang textbooks aren't effective in teaching Mandarin, in a world where Mandarin has over a billion speakers!
There's a Chinese proverb that says, "死記硬背 sǐ jì yìng bèi" or "Memorize to the point of death". That's exactly what those textbooks are. Memorize to the point of death! Okay, it may sound exaggerated. However, that's how Chinese language teachers in the Philippines were made to teach the students. The lesson isn't the fault of the teacher. It was more on the system itself. The fact I never grew up in China, never had Chinese citizenship, and was born to parents born in the Philippines, made it more difficult. The Chinese education system may have never anticipated that the children would get assimilated. It's also known how Chinese Filipinos stereotypically forbid their "la nang" children from marrying "huan-a". Back then, I used to think huan-a was just a word for Filipino, even if the Hokkien word is "Hui Di Pin lang". Huan-a is also a word used to describe ethnic Malaysians and ethnic Indonesians.
The Chinese teacher often says, "Hey! Study your lesson!" when the student flunks. But how can you expect someone who couldn't read Chinese, to study Chinese? Some pass but forget the lesson. You can expect cheating to be rampant in Chinese classes, in Chinese Filipino schools. That's why I didn't like to study Chinese language. I even secretly loathed being born an ethnic Chinese (lan-nang or actually, a 华人, read as Huárén). Sure, rote memorization helps, but not rote memorization without understanding. There's a big difference.
The Very Well Mind reveals this about rote memorization's pros and cons:
Does Rote Memorization Actually Help Us Learn and Understand Information?
There are situations in which rote memorization can be helpful. "Rote memorization can be a useful learning tool in some situations, but its effectiveness depends on the type of information being learned and how it is applied," says Dr. Aldrich Chan, neuropsychologist. He tells us that rote memorization can be a useful learning tool for test preparation, learning basic facts and information such as vocabulary words or math formulas, and when we are in the early stages of learning something new.
Of course, rote memorization is not akin to strong understanding, and memorizing facts doesn't mean you've actually learned a subject. Chan notes that "rote memorization often does not promote a deep understanding of the material. Learners may be able to recite facts or information without truly comprehending their meaning or significance."
These Are the Benefits of Rote Memorization
Rote memorization has a place in our day to day lives, especially when we need to learn something new or in a quick fashion. It enables us to regurgitate information in situations where doing so is the main thing asked of us, even if it doesn't lead us to have a deep understanding of that info. Here are its top benefits:
Easy access to info: Chan says that "rote memorization helps you quickly recall essential facts, data, or formulas. This can be particularly helpful in situations where immediate access to information is required, such as during exams or for a job roles."
Efficiency: When you need to know someone's phone number, it doesn't really require you to understand it—you just need to get your brain to access a series of numbers. Chan tells us that "for some types of information...memorization is often more efficient than trying to derive the information through other means. Memorization can save time and mental effort for frequently used data."
Your mind is engaged: Memorization is better than simply not using your brain. A study found that older adults who employ rote memorization have stronger neural plasticity than those who don't.2
Preserving culture: The written word has not always existed, and even now there are people who may not have access to paper or the internet. Chan explains that "memorization has been a traditional method for preserving cultural and historical knowledge. Oral traditions, epic poems, and religious texts have been passed down through generations via memorization."
Disadvantages of Rote Memorization
The act of memorizing through repetition, as you may suspect, also has its down sides. This is why it isn't always the solution to every problem. These are the disadvantages of rote memorization.
Lack of Retention: Memorizing facts through repetition doesn't necessarily keep them in your brain for long. "Information memorized through rote learning is often retained in the short term but may be forgotten relatively quickly if not actively used," says Chan.
Shallow Understanding: You don't necessarily get much depth out of rote memorization. Says Chan, "one of the most significant drawbacks of rote memorization is that it often does not promote a deep understanding of the material. Learners may memorize facts or information without truly comprehending their meaning or how they fit into a broader context."
It Doesn't Benefit Your Mind: Rote memorization can't teach you how to think for yourself. "Rote memorization tends to focus on memorizing facts and procedures, which may discourage critical thinking or problem-solving skills," explains Chan.
A generative AI overview on Google reveals this problem with "Memorize to the point of death":
"Si Ji Ying Bei" (死记硬背) in Chinese translates to "to learn by rote" or "to memorize mechanically," essentially meaning to learn something by repeating it over and over without fully understanding the concept; it implies a method of studying that focuses on memorization rather than deep comprehension.
Breakdown of the phrase:
Si (死): means "dead"
Ji (记): means "to remember" or "to memorize"
Ying (硬): means "hard" or "rigid"
Bei (背): means "to recite" or "to repeat"
The problem isn't in rote memorization but overreliance on it. Rote memorization helps, like I had to memorize the Pinyin table before I could understand how to read Pinyin. Pinyin isn't read at face value. However, the problem with the Chinese education system in Chinese Filipino schools, for some time, was that the focus was too much on memorization. Grade 1 already? You're already memorizing this and that. The difficulty jump can be ridiculous. Grade 1 can be easy-peasy. Grade 2 becomes way more difficult. Of course, the Chinese language teacher, and not even the Chinese principal, has any control over the lesson!
For Chinese Filipinos who grew up for a certain period, can you remember memorizing "bon toi" (spelled as 問題, Wèntí in Mandarin) and not understanding it? I confess I memorized it without learning. The result is that parents can say, "I don't care if they don't know how to read, as long as they pass." That was the consequence of the system itself. It was practically, "You had to learn Chinese before you entered the class." It should've been, "You enter class to learn Chinese." Can you imagine if you had to learn pingpong or badminton before you entered a badminton class in Physical Education class? Talk about extreme levels of ridiculous! Did the Chinese school system get so arrogant or stuck up? Did the old-generation Chinese Filipinos not realize that learning is best done through conversations, too (read here)?
As I looked at this sample sheet, this reminded me of the bon toi we had to memorize back then. However, this was far better than what was memorized back then. Some people argued against Pinyin because it would "sound different". I threw the challenge of trying to register a Chinese business and spelling it out in Zhuyin. Of course, a non-Chinese-speaking country will not honor it! Just imagine if businesses like Gong Cha, Yang Hero, Chatime, and other Chinese-style businesses registered some of their names in Zhuyin. The businessmen would be crazy to demand City Hall to, "Well, you can't learn Chinese! You have to learn Chinese!" to them. The City Hall will just pop their eyes out. It would be better if they spelled it out in Pinyin and get misread than never read. Of course, learning how to read in different languages is beneficial. Funny enough, some people who memorized Zhuyin to death have been misreading the Pinyin several times!
Take a look at the "bon toi" above the previous paragraph. Back then, one would only memorize without understanding the context. Chinese teachers employed the methods of scolding, spanking with a ruler, and sarcasm. However, these become ineffective because the lesson isn't understood. Back then, we memorized without even knowing what it meant. It was practically forcing fish to climb trees, pigs to fly, and monkeys to breathe underwater! It would be different if people rotely memorized and then understood what they rotely memorized. It's always alternating between rote memorization and meaningful learning. You can memorize without understanding, but not understand without memorizing! Even worse, there was also multitasking because people had to learn Hokkien before learning Mandarin is another extra hurdle!
Instead, focusing on Mandarin while slowly introducing it is better. My Hokkien's not good and I confess, I'm pretty much more Filipino than Chinese in my thinking these days. I even feel that marrying a huan-a po (a term used for any native Southeast Asian woman) who's decent is better than marrying a lan-nang po who's indecent. Just think if someone memorized the questions and answers in the conversational sheet, and understood what they meant. If someone knew what the question meant, memorizing the answer with its meaning is what follows next. That means memorizing and understanding the topic on hand. Sure, I have to memorize the Pinyin and the vocabulary. However, focusing too much on memorization for the sake of it is another reason why Chinese language classes are often dreaded in Chinese Filipino schools. The result is that some people leave the school to avoid studying.
Some can even graduate in Chinese and forget how to speak Mandarin. Back then, we're told we'd have a hard time landing jobs if we didn't study Chinese. However, this is the Philippines and not China or Taiwan. Some Filipinos who'd be working menial jobs in Taiwan and China would learn Mandarin better than those who entered the Chinese schools. You couldn't truly remember what you never understood. In fact, memorizing to the "point of death" has only killed the memory of the facts!
As I look back, this is a lesson that needs to be applied in teaching Mandarin. I may be Chinese by blood, but I really view some things that ethnic Chinese adhere to as downright stupid. Sure, filial piety is needed, but authoritarian parenting isn't. As I read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother--Atty. Amy Lynn Chua (apparently, she may have never changed her surname) wrote about her two daughters. Atty. Chua had to look at how becoming too harsh caused the younger daughter to eventually rebel. It was only when Atty. Chua found the right balance, and the fighting stopped. Just because one is ethnically Chinese doesn't mean one should do things "that way" in the name of their ethnicity.
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