Rote Learning - Why the Bum Rap?

Whenever you hear the term rote learning you probably get the feeling it's sort of a bad thing.

Rote learning is often viewed as bad practice because it involves learning facts without developing a deep understanding of them. Memorizing vocabulary words is pointless, for example, without understanding how to use them in conversation. This lack of understanding makes it impossible to grasp meaning and apply and transfer the knowledge to other areas. But is this always a bad thing?

In fact, there have been many times in your academic career when you have been required to commit things to memory without realizing why. When you were five or six, you memorized a little song called your "ABCs," for instance. At the time, you had no idea how you would be using that list of items you memorized to the same tune as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Now that string of symbols called the alphabet is second nature to you.

Can you think of other times when you've used rote learning as a necessary step toward meaningful learning?