The US is fucking cooked
I can’t help but think this is a phenomenon unique to the US where education has been completely devalued. If the only point of education is to fulfill a requirement to make more money then it makes sense to shortcut as much as possible.
The solution is of course no computer
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Sometimes struggling with shit you hate is an important step to learning something that matters. I hated the Shakespeare plays I was forced to read and write about for the first couple of years they made us do it at school. But in the third year of this it all suddenly clicked. Had AI existed back then, I might have never come to appreciate Shakespeare.
Also, I didn’t know what the fuck I was interested in or good at as a teenager. Primary and secondary education needs to be broad and well-rounded.
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Sorry, but this is a pretty surface-level take. The Shakespearean plays and the French language are vessels for other skills. Literary criticism, argumentation, media literacy, acculturation to a shared literary canon, and even just how to talk about books are all additional aims to using Shakespeare in an English class, beyond “learn this book you hate”. A good English class can focus on these skills with any content, but Shakespeare is used for his contributions to the English language and literature in addition to his privileged place in culture (a valid avenue for argument).
The targeted plays might not be every student’s cup of tea, but some students will love Shakespeare and hate your favorite book. As long as the classroom is used as a social learning space, there will need to be shared central content used as a medium for the skills–which are more important and enduring than the exact content of the plays. It’s the same for the French grammar you don’t remember but which gave you the rudimentary skills to study another language more effectively.
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I want to push back on this a little. All the time I spent in English literature class and French language lessons were wasted. I knew that wasn’t related to what I wanted to do for a long time, and it still isn’t. I forgot everything from those classes.
I literally took extra history classes that I didn’t need to because I was interested in that subject. But I couldn’t go all the way with them because I could only sit official exams on my official subjects.
Had I not been forced to waste time on English and French (especially french), I would have had a much better high-school experience. I might have taken up music as well.
The whole experience with subject choice really depends on the student.
OMFG! THANK YOU!
I’m so tired of people acting like bad things are good. I know human nature is a prime beacon for chuds, but if we wanna talk about human nature, one of the things that seems so fucking lacking in a majority of people is theory of mind and empathy. It’s so ironic, because people talk about how humans “invented” those things, but then they go around and not even do it.
And I know a lot of people do have proper theory of mind and empathy BUT NOT ENOUGH FUCKING PEOPLE
I can understand that “Happy candy land where nothing goes wrong and everyone perfectly understands each other and nobody slights each other in any way” is a day dream, but people treat day dreams like we shouldn’t even consider them.
JUST BECAUSE PARADISE IS IMPOSSIBLE DOESN’T MEAN WE SHOULDN’T STRIVE FOR IT. The impossibility or difficulty of good things should never sway us from actually trying to make an effort to achieve them. Sorry for ranting, but I just needed to let that out.
Good post!
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I’m seeing rampant AI use in colleges as well. Allowing kids to choose their classes will not cause them to stop using AI if they still have requirements they need to fulfill (mandatory deadlines). I’ve even seen people use AI for their own personal passion projects.
At this point, we have to understand that people will use AI, there is no stopping it. We need better AI, stuff that is not so harmful for the planet and hallucinates less. Either that or we stop subsidizing existing AI infrastructure causing it to go under.
And even if schools allowed kids to choose classes, unless they straight up got rid of deadlines, most kids will still take shortcuts. They will want to maximize the amount of time spent socializing and minimize the amount of time learning unless the learning itself is a fun activity.
The ideal future of learning might simply look something like a more advanced version of khan academy combined with physical spaces where kids can use tools/materials to build shit. You could assess students using oral or written exams (they have a choice) that recur periodically and the kids can choose when they are ready. Another aspect that would be important is schools teaching children on how to take care of themselves properly (sleep + diet especially) so that students don’t walk in feeling like zombies. Remove the requirement that students have to be at a specific physical location at specific times (unless a teacher is holding a QA session or there is some combined activity).
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Painfully accurate.
The Montessori School has already been disproven.
No, it hasn’t.