There are times when we are told that we need to take notes, such as in a classroom, at work, or during a lecture or sermon. While, no doubt, those who impress upon us the value of good note-taking have the best of intentions, it has to be admitted, though, as well, that when we take notes, we are also taking our attention away from what is being spoken or written, to concentrate on that note-taking, which may or may not always be beneficial. In truth, some people don’t take all that many notes but are just as sharp or sharper than those who have taken notes. The difference is that those who are engaged but are not note-taking, are relying upon their memory to take in information and to thereby process it, and because of this, they don’t need to take in nearly as many notes as others. Further to the point, the reason behind note-taking is essentially to jog our mind into remembering the salient points of what we have been taught, or, for example, the order that we need to do things to accomplish a given task, in which, at the end of the day, note-takers, end up absorbing into their memory, as well, the most important points that they needed to learn. So then, it could be argued, that note-taking for at least some people, is akin to utilizing a crutch, for the object of the exercise is to learn what we need to learn, so that only infrequently, will we need to subsequently look something up, or refer back to our notes.
In ancient times, only a small elite of people were literate, which means that the processing and the passing on of information and stories was done verbally, and because these people were not literate, they, therefore, had to develop their minds and their memory in order to absorb not only the salient points of what was being addressed but also to pass on such information in a way and manner, that the information or the story was true to what was first explained or told to them. That is to say, those who were illiterate had little choice if they were to advance and to become valued members of society, but to use their memory as their own form of a library, from which they could thereby draw a wealth of information from. This would more than imply, that as much as we might impress upon the other, the great value in note-taking, that society should not, therefore, neglect that the exercising of our memory and thereby our mind to remember and thereby store information has immense value, as well.
Indeed, our mind and our memory are ours, and are ever with us, as compared to the internet or our notes, which may not always be there, especially when we need to draw upon them, in an exigent circumstance. That is why, we should have classes in which no notes are even permitted to be taken so that we can develop the memory of our mind, and perhaps learn the value of something that we are not therefore utilizing as much as we should or ought.