Does learning by rote have any place in the modern classroom?

"Rote learning is the process of acquiring material as discrete and relatively isolated entities that are relatable to cognitive structure only in an arbitrary and verbatim fashion, not permitting the establishment of meaningful relationships." (Brown ) This rather complex definition says learning by rote is not a meaningful process since the new material has little or no association with the previously acquired knowledge. Consequently, it does not have a great potential for retention. What is more, …showed first 75 words of 873 total…

…showed last 75 words of 873 total…that students are striving for meaningfulness in order to find a way of registering the material and to be able to produce it at any given time. Of course, there are things during the course of any studies that have to be memorized and it is impossible to dispense with these completely. Multiplication table or even the alphabet still remains for many young students a terrible "cramming job" and nothing can be done about it.