I used to worry about my ability to retain information. I consumed tons of content (books, podcasts, articles, etc.) but what did I have to show for it? After consuming a piece of content, I’d sometimes ask myself, “What percentage of this content’s information did I actually retain?” And in reflecting, I’d realize that that percentage must be tiny - maybe one or two percent.
Since I knew people with remarkable recall, I used to feel insecure about this. But I don’t anymore. Because I now know that the value of education lies in exposure, not retention.
If I were to relive finals week of my junior year in high school and retake those final exams today (without any preparation), I’m certain I’d do poorly. I’m certain most others would too. Does this mean a high school education is worthless? Of course not. Because retention is a crude measure for knowledge. [1]
From US history, I might not be able to recall who the sitting president was during the War of 1812, but I can remember the general principle that when centralized parties of power exploit its subjects from afar, retaliation is a near inevitability. From physics, I may not remember Maxwell’s famous equations, but I can recall that a deep interplay exists between electric currents and magnetic fields. And from economics, I might not remember the term Veblen good, but I do remember that certain goods act in unconventional ways. (Some goods violate the law of demand. [2])
You see, most of the knowledge I absorbed in high school are not facts or figures that demonstrate retention. Instead, they’re broad insights indicative of exposure.
Knowledge accumulation is like path-making in snowy terrain. At first, a new path is hard to make since you have to walk through fresh snow. But the more times you walk through it, the easier it is to trek. If you stop using a path, snowfall will begin to cover it. But, you’ll still be able to see the path’s outline.
If you revisit a path you haven’t used in a while, you might not remember its exact details (how long it is, what landmarks you pass, its elevation changes, etc.) but that doesn’t matter. You can still make out the path’s direction and you know where it will take you.
Education is like this. But instead of physical paths, you make mental ones. Like with physical paths, the focus shouldn’t be on retention of trivial facts and figures. Instead, the goal should be to make a plethora of paths and to develop an intuition for when each becomes relevant.
In a recent episode of the Founders Podcast, host David Senra covered legendary real estate investor Sam Zell’s voracious reading; Zell reportedly read five newspapers a day, three magazines a week, and multiple books a month. In his autobiography titled Am I Being Too Subtle? Zell states, “I go through about one book a week, and I usually remember nothing about them unless all of a sudden something becomes relevant.” This is how education works.
Today, we live in a society that prizes retention over relevance. We have an appetite for data, charts, and anything that signals sophistication. But we should be careful about the conclusions we draw from such signals. Because retention does not imply understanding. And lack of retention does not imply lack of knowledge. [3]
Like Zell’s observation, the great American Essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, "I can't remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me."
To those like myself who have worried about retention, take comfort. For even the investing and literary greats understand that the value of education is found not in retention, but in exposure.
1// To measure the effectiveness of a college course, there have been studies where researchers ask students to retake an exam they’ve taken months ago. The idea: high performance on a retake implies an effective course, and low performance implies an ineffective course. Tests like these (tests of retention), I think are flawed.
2// The Economic Law of Demand: higher price implies lower quantity demanded.
3// There is nothing wrong with retention. Retention can be valuable. But retention alone does not imply understanding. If you can recite Maxwell’s equations, it doesn’t follow that you understand electricity and magnetism. (And vice versa.)
