IS RELIGION EDUCATION TOO THEORETIC?

Reading the news yesterday, the government of Yogyakarta to improve religious education that is considered too theoretical and focused on memorizing so it is not able to rectify the students’ moral, I mused. Is religion education really too theoretical, so it has no impact on the improvement of students' morals?
When I was a boy, and when I and my friends always learnt and slept in the mosque, we had been given a sermon by religious teachers that religious knowledge is compulsory for both men and women of Islam. The obligation is still valid since childhood until to be buried in the graveyard.
Our religious teachers also stated that the Prophet Muhammad was sent to edify. He gave the example of educating the first to his companions before he ordered them to act for the good. And, in this way, he successfully edify.
So, I think, if religion education currently is assessed as not able to edify because too focused on the memorizing, I do not concur. The teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, the teachings of morals are written in hadeeth, the hadeeth had been checked the authenticity by great ulama’. From the hadeeth Moslems learn to have a noble. The divine words by the Prophet is the source of noble character. Therefore, the hadeeth are indeed must be memorized so they can be embedded in the heart and can be implemented in the act. In addition, those hadeeth again can be taught to others. By memorizing and conveying the hadeeth, we act as if we are "mouthpieces" of the Prophet.
In accordance with my religious teachers who taught at the surau many years ago, according to my opinion, the reason of the students’ moral degradation is because they do not have role models of what have been taught to them. In the text, they get something that is ideal. However, in reality, they found the opposite. Therefore, they do not deem the teachings as a source of moral value but only as information. As a donkey hauling books written in them knowledge.
The best, students need to get an environment which they can follow in implementing the noble character. The environment where they live, their teachers, should be able to become a good example. Without that, although the method of learning is replaced with something that is considered the best, it is difficult to see significant improvements to the morals of our students.