> But more importantly homework problems are rigged [1] and transfer learning is close to non-existent in every domain we've seriously looked at [2],
Indeed it is, but that’s because most people just learn to pass exam by redoing the same exact problems with different inputs! Bringing up this fact does not support your argument in favor of memorization, instead it is closer to my view, which is that most of schooling is just cargo culting education, people just memorize the exam problems, pass, move on and forget. What’s the point of the whole thing in the first place if you can’t transfer?
What I'm actually getting at there is your standards are inhumane. Transfer is pretty poor across the board in pedagogical studies and we don't know how to reliably get more of it. Indeed it's a tough thing to even rigorously define, since it's basically creativity finetuned on crystallized intelligence. You might get more of it out of people by massively upping the difficulty and number of homework problems. That's a huge cost to put people through, especially when a significant proportion of them really do just want to study the thing for its own sake, and couldn't care less about something as nebulous as "transfer". I don't need my knowledge of the Kan extension to have to inform how I play tennis.
Indeed it is, but that’s because most people just learn to pass exam by redoing the same exact problems with different inputs! Bringing up this fact does not support your argument in favor of memorization, instead it is closer to my view, which is that most of schooling is just cargo culting education, people just memorize the exam problems, pass, move on and forget. What’s the point of the whole thing in the first place if you can’t transfer?