Memorization

So I was sitting in my linguistics class the other day, and I had some thoughts about classroom learning, and its purpose.

I think that when you are learning in class, you should not be expected to memorize large tables of information. Examples of this would be the Periodic Table of Elements, or the International Phonetics Chart, or say, a chi squared test table. I mean, you should learn how to use them, but will you ever be without such information when you are trying to use these subjects in the real world? Really now?

Granted, a person who uses them all the time may end up memorizing a lot of the information, but I don't personally believe it belongs in a classroom setting. That could just be annoyed-ness talking though.

Not that I object to memorizing things for class. I've never objected to memorizing formulas, up until a point. It just makes sense to memorize laws and rules, that is just learning the basic information of the material. I only say this so that someone reading this does not think I just want things handed to me. I just don't see the point of memorizing something that you will always have access to in the future.