2d ago

What hill will you die on?

Fancy cupcakes are 70% icing, really not that nice and a waste of money

385 comments

The Petty One: Optical Media is Bad. It has always been and always will be. We used it for as long as we did because there was no better choice. But when it came to music I went straight from tape to mp3 because I never trusted CD's, and I will continue not to trust CD's.
The Serious One That Might Ruffle Feathers: The entire school curriculum of every country should be wiped out -- And replaced with fifteen years of nothing but reading comprehension. We live in an era where information is extremely cheap but knowledge is priceless. And to go from information to knowledge, one needs to have a well developed reading ability and bullshit filter. There's no point memorising a bunch of nonsense when it is easier and faster to use technology -- We stopped doing recitations when we invented writing, you know? -- What IS important is understanding what you are seeing and recognising lies for what they are.
- That's correct. In school the most important thing you can possibly learn is to learn. Information is abundant and easily accessible, the school, university or even research labs are no longer gatekeepers of information. But knowing HOW to find resources, HOW to filter it, HOW to use it, HOW to sit your ass down and work with information in a meaningful way is a specialized and rare skill.
- It didn't ruffle my feathers. It just made me laugh.
  Everybody has an opinion on education. Most of them are single-issue. Almost all of them are wrong.
  
  I would like to congratulate you on choosing the most assholish way you could have possibly phrased that :>
  
  Go on... so what's the right one? I can't understand why anyone would go to attack others without offering a superior alternative. Like, you may as well just not say anything, then. If you don't have a better idea, then theirs isn't worse because you didn't even provide a rebuttal.
  I'm not even on the side of the person you responded to, but why would you not want to state what would work better? That's just trolling.
  
  The "right one" is to stop treating it as a "single issue" matter and dismissing literally decades of education research.
  Maybe go read a modern textbook on education and see what issues there are, what the research on the subject says, and derive from that some conclusions about any "single issue" approach to education (whether it's "TEHY JUST NEED MORE JEEBUS!" or "we should throw everything out and replace it with reading").
  So the "right one" is to shut the fuck up if you think there's a one-size-fits-all approach to education. Kind of like if you think there's a one-size-fits-all approach to anything. Even carpentry.
  
  But you're not offering even any example of possible models so how can anyone take your position seriously if you refuse to share more of your stance when asked? Lack of transparency is not cool, as well as assuming; I never once said one-size-fits-all.
  
  I gave you an example of a possible model.
  READ A BOOK BEFORE OPENING YOUR MOUTH AND SPEWING DRIVEL.
  I'm not here to give you an Education 101 course. (Frankly, given your performance here thus far, I'm not even certain you could understand the contents of such a course.)
  And if "throw everything way but this one thing" isn't "one size fits all" what is it!? You're literally saying "everything being done now is wrong and we should do this ONE THING for everyone. That's practically the definition of "one size fits all"!
  I get it. You're a techie and have been trained by techie culture to think (or at least pretend) you're the smartest person in the room. But to first causally dismiss literally decades of research to then propose a "solution" that is risible on the face of it goes well past typical techie arrogance and into Elon Musk territory.
- Reading comprehension is incredibly important. Bullshit filter also sorely needed. I get very frustrated when I see people falling for obvious false information. I've been shown AI videos that are clearly fake but they believe it.
  I think my favorite are conspiracy theories who won't believe something backed with like, facts, but will believe this 30 seconds tik Tok from someone they don't know quoting someone they also don't know.
- I don't think I can put into words how much worse my life would be if we followed your second suggestion. There are a great many things I never really wanted to learn about, but I'm incredibly glad I was still taught them - starting from basic stuff (like maths etc) over arts (especially poetry and literary analysis) to sciences (especially physics and chemistry).
  I would understand far less about the world, I could never engage as deeply with media as I love to, and I couldn't have built so many things that require holistic insight into our world.
  I'd be a far less developed version of myself, because I wouldn't be able to follow my interests the same way.
  
  I must wonder why not. Like, clearly those things are enriching to you, aren't they? Why wouldn't you have learned them on your own terms? Assuming nothing was stopping you? You seem not to be an incurious person? Again, information has never been cheaper, you just have to look for it.
  Like I'm not trying to make fun of your explanation or even say you're wrong. Just... Genuinely wondering how come
  
  I wouldn't have known how much I enjoy some of those things. Let's stick with literary analysis - I hated doing that in school, really hated it. It was a slog to get through. Until I one day read something I enjoy, and started feeling the things I learned to analyze. Suddenly the text wasn't just a text, it was a conversation with the author. It made me engage with reading on a different level, and also taught me to utilize the same techniques in my own writing.
  But I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't have been able to force myself to learn that stuff on my own. Writing literary analyses and having them read, critiqued and graded by my teachers was essential to learning it. Yet I would have gone on thinking that it's a waste of my time, had I not been forced to learn it.

385 comments