A superb writeup. Thanks for posting. Reminded me of Herbert Simon saying Learning required "Drill and Kill". And how our education systems were tending more towards entertainment by undervaluing rote or practice.
Had to dig up the quote - "The criticism of practice (called "drill and kill," as if this phrase constituted empirical evaluation) is prominent in constructivist writings. Nothing flies more in the face of the last 20 years of research than the assertion that practice is bad. All evidence, from the laboratory and from extensive case studies of professionals, indicates that real competence only comes with extensive practice... In denying the critical role of practice one is denying children the very thing they need to achieve real competence. The instructional task is not to "kill" motivation by demanding drill, but to find tasks that provide practice while at the same time sustaining interest."
That would be very useful but I don't think the current style of school practice is doing it. "Sustaining interest" is missing. Both the textbook or class are abstract (they have enough trouble describing a math concept and don't spend much or any time showing where that concept is headed for example - what it will later be useful for). And the exercises are narrow: they make no reference to real world problems. Granted that created exercises grounded in real world problems is far more time consuming than isolated questions. Would still be more useful.
Had to dig up the quote - "The criticism of practice (called "drill and kill," as if this phrase constituted empirical evaluation) is prominent in constructivist writings. Nothing flies more in the face of the last 20 years of research than the assertion that practice is bad. All evidence, from the laboratory and from extensive case studies of professionals, indicates that real competence only comes with extensive practice... In denying the critical role of practice one is denying children the very thing they need to achieve real competence. The instructional task is not to "kill" motivation by demanding drill, but to find tasks that provide practice while at the same time sustaining interest."