Power and Place - Reaction to Education

After the first few sentences of Chapter Four authored by Daniel Wildcat in the Power and Place of Indian Education in America, I was completely in agreement. The point Wildcat conveys is that American students are pushed to learn "facts" not concepts. These facts are placed in the short term memory bank, which allows for the retainment for tests, but does not grasp an overall understanding. I had made this conncection within myself a few years back while in my high school U.S. History class. I received a A in the class but came away feeling that I could not put the time periods together to create an uniform experience. Exactly how the book describes it, I was able to remember facts and bits and pieces, but not relate them to one another.
At first I attributed this to my personal learning style (procrastination). However, now am switching the blame towards Western technology and thought. It is quite possible that the problem is larger than me, and that it has not just been publicly disclosed. If this information was released into a widespread audience, many individuals may be enlightented, as I was. In fact, maybe the realization of what Western thought has taught us will trigger a backlash into learning to understand concepts or as Wildcat calls it; The thirst for "wisdom."