There are a lot of different techniques to make studying easier. One of interesting books is «Einstein walks the moon. Science and the art of remembering, „Joshua Foer. It helps to improve your memory. 

I think that memorising textbooks is a good way to learn subject. In my opinion, if student understant and interested in what he or she memorises they will be successful. But yes, you are right that teacher shouldn't make easy the teaching process. So it would be better to use new technologies.

Also It can be useful to watch movies in a foreign language

The key to learning something well is repetition; the more times you go over the material the better chance you have of storing it permanently. Before you begin this process, however, it makes sense that you determine the type of learner you are. There are three basic types of learning: Visual, Auditory and Haptic. Most of us are, in fact, some combination of the three, but chances are one style will suit us more than the other two

In my opinion, memorizing textbooks is not the best way of learning. You should understand exactly what information you need. You should understand how to use the information.