Originally Posted by ultramarina
Well, let's be fair. Some real world situations (and jobs) require a great deal of rote memory. For example, a physician needs great rote memory, as I mentioned earlier.

Just pointing out that we are talking about faster acquisition of facts or processing speed, and not overall knowledge. Assuming that a fast processing speed medical school student and a slow processing speed medical student both learn the same material, they both would be doctors at the end of the day. Rote memorization can be accomplished by both sets of students.