Dolch Words: How Dummies Teach Reading
their names to the point where you have instant recall of 100 strangers. Doesn’t that sound like a tremendous amount of work? But this is basically the task thrown at little children in first grade, when they are shown their first Dolch List.
Do you know what happens? Many children master the material only in a half-baked way, but the teachers pretend the students can “read” and pass them along. Many children just give up, because very quickly it becomes evident that 100 words is only the beginning. The teachers clearly expect this process to go on and on and on.
So now, to put this in the terms of the thought experiment, suppose you have to memorize the names of 500 strangers, then 1,000 strangers… Seriously, do you think you could do this? Ever? Or you would even attempt to do this?
Bottom line, if you have a photographic memory,
