Memorization and the use of the old domino cards seemed to work very well in the 50s-60s and before that time. Then again, teaching phonics and sentence diagramming in grade school also worked very well.
The lazy, lamebrain part of my generation who didn’t bother to learn the basics and are now administrators, education experts, and senior teachers made up these techniques because they did such a crap job with their students who are now teachers.
I worked for a number of years, in the Jr High ministry at my old church. All my guys are now adults, with the older ones over 35.
One of my guys is an educator. He'd send me emails that you wouldn't believe. Spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, all terrible.
I mean TERRIBLE.
You would honestly think English was a second language to him.
I know he's got his masters, not sure about his doctorate. Last I heard from him, he claimed to be a school principal.
I pointed out his terrible grammar and spelling, and he just laughed it off, saying he has a secretary to take care of things for him.
Hey, I'm just a dumb construction worker. I don't have an advanced degree or high position anywhere. But I'm at least relatively competent at grammar and spelling. At the very least, if having problems with spelling, I can use spell check.
The way he came across, he was almost proud of his incompetence.
(By the way, despite my best efforts in his youth, he still became a liberal, who now lives in Minneapolis...where he fits in perfectly)
(He grew up reached the lawful age of adulthood in Illinois, near Chicago. Went to college in California, near LA. Now lives in Minneapolis.)
Some rote tasks have to be “downloaded” into the brain. It’s just not exciting but everything’s not going to be exciting. A year of elementary school rote memorization serves a lifetime of not having to think about it.
As opposed to ... this. Whatever it is.
I loved to diagram sentences. Really. It made language clean and neat, which it isn’t otherwise.