The greatest discoveries do not just result in substantial improvements – they shake the core foundation of the systems we take for granted.

I was trying to minimize the time I spend studying for history class so I could maximize my time for other endeavors. To do this, I studied the techniques behind the art of memory, used to perform feats like memorizing 1000 miscellaneous facts in one hour.

Known as mnemonics, these techniques center around converting an abstract or intangible fact into a tangible visual image that the mind can more easily remember.

Surprisingly, I noticed that mnemonics appear in two other academic disciplines. In speed reading, readers use “logic markers” to visualize key information and process it at an extremely fast retention rate.

I then noticed mathematics professor Arthur Benjamin converting numbers into words while squaring random five-digit numbers in his head to better remember them before applying operations like the distributive property.

As someone who regards knowledge as a goal in itself and not simply as a means to a destination, this felt like a gold mine to me. Could everything about how we approach education be wrong?

Mnemonics may be the single greatest tool for learning we have for each and every subject. When does learning not require memory? Even if you are analyzing a new idea, you draw upon past experiences, facts, and ideas… all of which you somehow memorized. Instead of learning each subject discipline separately in school, maybe we should start by training the mind.