James Ham's "Canon of Rhetoric-Memory" discusses the use of memory to aid a rhetorical argument (Ham). I am drawn to the validity of his argument. During the time of the Romans, memorization of the classical texts of Greek and Latin was essential to becoming a learned member of Roman citizenry. Understanding of classical text would start with memorization, and then move onto higher cognitive thinking through analysis and application of this knowledge. I am reminded of this fact when I judged a debate competition, recently. During the Technology Science Academy high school competition, I found that students who could quote and apply properly information from scholarly texts performed better on average than those who did not. Since debate is a form of rhetorical argument, I found that memorization indeed helps to "get one's point across" in a pointed way and hopefully win enough competition points. Again I agree with James Ham's statement of knowledge "integration into one's own thoughts, adding his own personal touches, is how information is truly retained and appreciated" (Ham).
Ham, James. "Canon of Rhetoric-Memory." n.v. bonanzaham.blogspot.com. Blogspot.com.Web. 5 May 2011. http://bonanzaham.blogspot.com/
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