Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
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Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#2“In school, you are given the lesson, and then the test.
In life, you are given the test, and then the lesson.”
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#3I've long thought that schools should just let people go at whatever pace they want. This should be easier now with video classes.
Just let people take the algebra or calculus or whatever module, when they feel like it. There would still be some sort of minimum requirement so that you can write a decent email, but there would be no reason to lock people in year groups.
Year groups are still important socially, but there will be plenty of time with people in your year regardless, because the big hump of people will follow along most courses at the same rate.
The theme the author is alluding to is the industrialization of education: shove a bunch of kids through, make sure there's an acceptable defect rate, let them out into society. But we don't have to live like that anymore. If you look at jobs, they don't really map to education these days, so there's not much point in making an assembly line of kids who can solve quadratic equations and write 5-paragraph essays.
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#4I've long thought that schools should just let people go at whatever pace they want. This should be easier now with video classes. Just let people take the algebra or calculus or whatever module, when they feel like it. There would still be some sort of minimum requirement so that you can write a decent email, but there would be no reason to lock people in year groups. Year groups are still important socially, but th…
Young children are not famously good decision makers, and it's easy to imagine them making very limiting choices that they would later come to regret.
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#5I've long thought that schools should just let people go at whatever pace they want. This should be easier now with video classes. Just let people take the algebra or calculus or whatever module, when they feel like it. There would still be some sort of minimum requirement so that you can write a decent email, but there would be no reason to lock people in year groups. Year groups are still important socially, but th…
What you're describing is called "mastery learning," and it is a thing. Essentially, you can't progress from one module to the next without a certain minimum score on the current module (that's the "mastery" part). It works well in subjects like math, where there are a lot of dependencies between later and earlier modules.
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#6I've long thought that schools should just let people go at whatever pace they want. This should be easier now with video classes. Just let people take the algebra or calculus or whatever module, when they feel like it. There would still be some sort of minimum requirement so that you can write a decent email, but there would be no reason to lock people in year groups. Year groups are still important socially, but th…
What you're describing is called "mastery learning," and it is a thing. Essentially, you can't progress from one module to the next without a certain minimum score on the current module (that's the "mastery" part). It works well in subjects like math, where there are a lot of dependencies between later and earlier modules. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastery_learning
Where can I do a (respectable) on-line degree in this structure?
While I'm fantasizing, the second unrealistic requirement is affordable. ;-)
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#7“In school, you are given the lesson, and then the test. In life, you are given the test, and then the lesson.”
Non vitae sed scholae discimus. (Seneca, epistulae morales ad Lucilium 106, 11–12)
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#8Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#9I've long thought that schools should just let people go at whatever pace they want. This should be easier now with video classes. Just let people take the algebra or calculus or whatever module, when they feel like it. There would still be some sort of minimum requirement so that you can write a decent email, but there would be no reason to lock people in year groups. Year groups are still important socially, but th…
Young children are not famously good decision makers, and it's easy to imagine them making very limiting choices that they would later come to regret.
Also some kids are pushed hard by their parents while others will do whatever they can to not look nerdy
Re: Life, school, and the 80:20 rule (2019)
#10I've long thought that schools should just let people go at whatever pace they want. This should be easier now with video classes. Just let people take the algebra or calculus or whatever module, when they feel like it. There would still be some sort of minimum requirement so that you can write a decent email, but there would be no reason to lock people in year groups. Year groups are still important socially, but th…
> Year groups are still important socially
Disagree. Year groups perpetuate immaturity. They are also very socially unnatural, a mere byproduct of going for scale in the education system. That is fine, but if we can achieve scale without year groups (which we could under your proposal), that would be better.