It is more important for students to understand ideas and concepts than it is for them to learn facts

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is more important for students to understand ideas and concepts than it is for them to learn facts.

Admittedly, those who think learning facts is more important have their point. For some humanity subjects like history, reciting some facts can enrich students’ evidence in essays they write. However, since such significance of learning facts only accentuates in humanity subjects, I insist it is less important than learning ideas.

First, learning ideas can better help students learn facts. For basically all subject field, there are rules lying under the facts. By first understanding those rules, those general regulations, students can easily inscribe the facts in their mind without rote memorization. In fact, students even do not have to memorize at all, since concept can help them deduce all results they want only based on conditions given. For example, math teachers are likely to inform students the idea behind the double-digit multiplication rather than ask them to remember the results of the calculation—an incredibly exhaustive task; on Chinese class, rather than directly asking students to recite the opaque ancient Chinese poem, teachers will first familiarize students with the core idea the author want to convey, with which students can digest every sentence without difficulty.

Second, learning ideas can help students to obtain the ability of abstract thinking. Today for many occupations, thinking abstractly is a valuable ability as sometimes there is no corporate staffs to measure.Through understanding concepts, a sort of incorporate things, students train themselves to use the imaginative part of their brain, fostering ability to solve problems by establishing models in their mind. For example, my brother entered a building company as an architect upon graduation. Many times in projects he is requested to design a part of a building, like its roof or windows. He can not directly transfer the examples, the facts he learn from textbook, to the specific building since the scenarios differ. However, he is able to construct the part he is in charge in his mind, where he directly test the feasibility of this plan and to determine wether to pick it or not.This successful “experiments in mind” is account for the study of concept and theory in college.