I think anything that requires muscle/procedural memory is a form of memorisation, so I consider touch typing as memorisation. Just that typing words over and over again doesn’t feel as icky morally as teaching to the test?

I think in this day and age where 21st century competencies are so hyped upon and employers declare how the young are lacking in critical and adaptive thinking (which I agree), rote learning gets a bad rep because you are asking kids to passively accept and absorb without understanding. There are different ways to write a conclusion, so by right, I should train them in the various ways and get them to think about which way is ideal for which topic.

Actually, I did so before their exam. Came up with a mnemonic Hand Foot Mouth Disease (Hope Feeling Memory Decision) so that they could have control of the way they write their conclusion. But well, weak writers can’t write under stressful exam conditions. Sensei has to do right by the kids first n foremost - get them to pass.