i’ve been looking at education recently and i’m blown away by how poor our basic reading, writing, and math results are.
below are some screenshots from a study in chicago showing the growing costs and poor results of students in their education system.
this isn’t isolated to chicago either. in Canada, roughly half of all adults can’t read at a high school level.
based on this data, my guess is that these awful results aren’t for a lack of financial resources or unreasonably high education standards (after all, the governments running schools get to set their own education standards).
if that is true, what do you think is the cause of our education failures? if you were in charge, what would you be doing to fix these issues?
1292 sats \ 2 replies \ @Atreus 22 Feb
Speaking as someone who's been fostering kittens... the dumb ones are less annoying than the smart ones. 🐱
@Nuttall's word devolution is apt. It's a devolution of the mind. The pertinent question is whether it's all some negligent accident, or not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CDaflxJJ0g&pp=ygUaYWNhZGVteSBvZiBpZGVhcyBlZHVjYXRpb24%3D
Either way, it's on us to raise the bar.
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The real big boy and big girl pants moment is realizing we are responsible for our lives and no one else is. I was considered reading impaired in public school and I failed 9th grade 3 times. I also quit school and went to college a year early.
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Somewhat of an assumption that reading and writing makes you smart
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That's done systematically and on purpose. Make people dumber, it is easier to sell BS you see on TV every day. Less and less people think for themselves, look at the "plandemic" numbers, if that doesn't tell you anything, I don't know what will. Critical thinking is gone with the wind.... sadly. What do to you might ask? I would home-school my kids if I had smaller children. Once again the nature tells us "You are on your own Buddy" You have to save yourself while you still can.
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1905 sats \ 2 replies \ @BTCFC 23 Feb
I wouldn't be exactly sure how to tackle this problem at large, however, I can share what I've done personally to improve my reading and writing skills. As I kid I remember immersing myself in books and also remember having high marks on any sort of writing assignments all through elementary and middle, but this began to change as I got into high school and college. During those times, the feeling of enjoyment towards reading and writing diminished, and with it my grades as well. It began to feel more like a chore than for leisure and pleasure, therefore, I only did the bare minimum to obtain average grades. Post school, I would read here and there, and would attempt to write in journal format, but I would always struggle for consistency.
Things definitely started to change after stumbling upon Bitcoin. If you truly want to understand the importance of Bitcoin, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable and learn, which sparked the intellect in me to start reading and eventually writing much more frequently. In addition to Bitcoin, it's effect of lowering one's time preference helped me to optimize my health, which further resulted in increasing my motivation to read and write more.
The past three months or so have been the most consistent I've been with reading and writing. I haven't missed a day of writing in my journal since about three months ago, and I have been reading everyday for the past three months or so as well, both long form content and short form. The big change I made three, four months ago was lowering my carb and sugar intake drastically and focusing on getting the bulk of my daily calories from quality fats and protein. Additionally, I've started to supplement with fish oil in the past 3 weeks and these dietary changes and shifting from being carb dependent to fat adapted has clearly increased my capacity to learn, to read, and write with much more clarity and consistency.
With that being said, I believe the clear decline in intellectual ability in the West stems from multiple factors, as I had to fix many aspects of my own life to get to where I am now. But if I were to change something to get the ball rolling towards fixing a very complex issue (thanks to the fiat system), I would start with implementing a course or a lesson of sorts on the topic of an optimized diet. One that teaches people objectively what people should think about eating and not eating or eating in moderation in order to live to their true potential. Something like insulin resistance is a huge handicap when it comes to living and more people should at least have access to the knowledge to reverse certain dietary detriments. Access is one thing, a person's willingness to change is another, but for those who are frustrated with their intellectual ability deserve to understand that the fix could be much simpler than we may think.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 23 Feb
The big change I made three, four months ago was lowering my carb and sugar intake drastically and focusing on getting the bulk of my daily calories from quality fats and protein.
i’ve heard this often enough to be curious, you’ve just marked a tipping point where i’m going to jump in and try for myself.
ps. appreciate the thoughtful comment!
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207 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTCFC 23 Feb
I would recommend watching Dr. Sten Ekberg's videos on YouTube. Very informational and easy to understand as to why our bodies prefer getting our energy from fats instead of carbs.
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Kids don't read anymore they grow up with mobile phones and tablets. People also don't write, they type and everything as autocorrect. So there you go, its up to parents to try to correct this at home imo.
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60 sats \ 3 replies \ @kr OP 22 Feb
i’m reading your comment on a mobile phone right now, and writing a response in return. mobile phones are an easy scapegoat, but i suspect it’s not telling us the full picture.
also, does mobile phone usage explain the poor math results in chicago?
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Im not talking about Chicago in particular but as a global trend in the west. Lack of social interaction, lack of physical activity, lack of hand writting that includes basic hand calculations and lack of reading impacts cognitive capabilities as kids grow. Reading and writing if you don't practice mostly at an early age it will become more difficult, sames as learning a new language, math requires even more practice, kids are not being incentivised to put the work.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 22 Feb
interesting, how might you incentivize kids to put in the work?
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You have to teach them at young age and put rules in place for when and how they can watch videos on mobile and stuff. For putting the work it's the same, there are times in the day to do choirs, school choirs, home choirs, etc. Good routines. I think it's just a matter of instead of handing over the mobile to a kid to watch cartoons read a book to him. I used to think it was dumb to give young children books but now my 3yo loves them and wants me to read to him. It's also good sometimes to be at home without any TV or music because they will start playing and using the imagination more and will be focused on what we are talking. So I thing as parents we have to fight a bit against the easy things, so that they can learn focus, patience and routines.
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It's devolution. The real question is why can't we build pyramids anymore?
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i think we can build pyramids today, i don’t think anyone has a desire to though.
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I've been a professional builder since the 1980s and now I just build piers. The commercial construction industry is a joke. Bad plans, unskilled labor, no focus. Bauhaus design. Fake balconies. No it's a bunch of FIAT shit engineering. Maybe naval construction is good. Maybe bridges. But commercial construction is shit.
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What's a fake balcony?
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Lmao. Are those real?
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Unfortunately, yes.
I've already seen the stupid sliding door with bars in front. At least you could open the sliding door and look out.
Then I saw fake bars against a regular window. To give a balcony look.
This piece of shit is just a shadow balcony with bars in front of your view. Total crap!
Yes, it's real. I took the photo.
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That's some wild stuff. Never seen architecture that blatantly bad. Normally just cookie cutter houses.
624 sats \ 5 replies \ @freetx 22 Feb
FIAT buildings
I think about this quite often. Look around town....the old bank in center of town....the old church....most of the really good, very solid buildings were all built with commodity money.
All new construction, when seen in the early phase, its impossible to tell if its going to be: a KFC, a Bank, a Dr's office, etc. They all use the same shitty particle board construction.
Makes sense as its impossible to do long-term projects with fiat....In the old days if you saved up enough money to start a big project, that saved money would carry you all the way thru to completion (due to the natural deflationary aspects).
Now days, you need to rush thru the project as fast as possible before lumber shoots up another 20% unexpectedly.
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As an estimator I would get plans that has no structural drawings for concrete and this would be a 3 or 4 story a apartment building. I was supposed to give a price for the concrete! Total joke as it was called "design build".
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most of the really good, very solid buildings were all built with commodity money.
I think you can find examples of good and bad buildings through history with little correlation to fiat. False front architecture has been around for a couple hundred years (at least)
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It's shit. No excuses.
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Not an excuse. I'm just not convinced on the lazy "the world is on fiat therefore all buildings are shit" logic.
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OK. I understand. But it is fiat and it is lazy. Here is why. The actual work is done to front run the devaluing of the dollar and it is not done to make good quality products and services. Construction crews are pushed to work long hours and assemble garbage, interpret garbage and make garbage work. Then there are those who in the office are bullshitting on their phones, setting up appointments for everything in the world except the actual job. It's an insane amount of non-work going on.
This is it. FIAT standards. Cheap and lazy, not putting the time for the best solution. Focus on quality, on knowledge.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 22 Feb
what is the solution in your view?
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Lower time preference. Make friends with people who want what you want.
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293 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs 22 Feb
Who wants critical consumers?
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Education is a pit that will gladly deepen itself for government subsidy.
The State demands better pass rates, and educational institution do their darnedest... for a price. Yet that price mostly purchases grade inflation, like an under-the-table agreement to pass Bucky from one level to the next despite his lack of preparedness.
An article shared by @brandonsbytes in Christianity talks about the politicization within higher-ed which effectively replaces education-centered content with an instructor's subscribed propaganda. I see that firsthand at my institution, and I would not be surprised if it's happening in high school.
My bride used to work in elementary education. The school's philosophy, which was not uncommon for the district, was that the students feel loved in the classroom. I would hear day after day how certain disciplinary and education routes were expended with in service of that end (while not meeting that end at all).
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Government education is a key problem. I would close the Department of Education. Remove truancy laws. Open the education market fully.
That said, I think we also have a cultural problem in the US. We value conformity over curiosity. We value entertainment over knowledge. We do not appreciate our wealth. We do not teach personal responsibility. We don't realize our potential.
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Want more wake up calls? Read "The Case Against Education" by Bryan Caplan.
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Caplan is awesome
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123 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 22 Feb
He makes a strong case. I mean, having worked in education nothing surprised me but it is nice when someone does the work and shows it.
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I've also worked in education and my dad was a teacher for a long time. Nothing surprises me either.
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The system is designed like this. The level is falling, we are less and less demanding of the children in terms of writing, reading, and mathematics.
Children do not make the effort because we allow them not to and we do not teach them to have a taste for reading and writing.
Video games, social networks, etc. are all activities that bring them immediate satisfaction and take precedence over more relevant long-term activities such as reading and writing.
From then on, the trend is growing.
You may also think that this is done to make people more and more stupid and distract their attention from important things. The more they play, the less they will think and the less likely they are to see the system in which they are locked up.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @fm 22 Feb
Give the kids a break, They are now focused on what gender they feel more close too.. And you have to reckon its hard to choose from the 92 available
Who need maths anyway.. Not like bitcoin is build on mathematical rules :)
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 22 Feb
one other thought…
if 75% of 11th graders aren’t reading or doing math at an 11th grade level, why are they moving on to 12th grade?
isn’t the entire point of having grades in school so that you progress to a new level once you’ve learned the concepts in your current level?
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If you're looking for the standardized government schools to actually give a damn about children's abilities here, I think the point is being missed. The school system exists primarily to foster obedience and fear of authority to produce compliant citizens and obedient workers, respectively.
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One side note - I've noticed that even among older adults, people don't read anymore. Like actually READ, a physical (or even kindle) book.
Instead, they listen to audiobooks. The audiobook listening population has grown a ton, actual book-reading population has shrunk.
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i've noticed since my kids were in 4th grade they are pretty much just pushed through. nobody is held back anymore.
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counterpoint: i haven’t found a ton of data to suggest that reading comprehension scores have ever been a whole lot better than they are today.
maybe this poor state of literacy is actually the best it’s ever been…
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Not only are these trends not due to high standards, they are occurring in an environment of continuously declining standards.
Government spending on education has been negatively correlated with attainment since the '70s. Unless proven otherwise, the simplest explanation is that government schooling is counterproductive.
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Here's the same in Turkey.
Leaders do not want people to think and be informed. They are working hard for this. The result is obvious: They were successful.
A minister in our country once said, "I love those who have not studied."
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If kids aren’t reading at their level by age 9 then it’s impossible for them to catch up, according to a Baltimore public school teacher, teach for America program
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 22 Feb
how come?
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11th grade is too late for an intervention.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @gmd 22 Feb
Scary and sad... how do these people function in life?
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99 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs 22 Feb
They consume. That's all that matters today.
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sure "spending doubles" over the course of two decades.. is that enough to keep up with inflation in both the dollar and class sizes due to rises in population? Nah.
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“use it or lose it”
why do you think people no longer find these things important?
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