Why We Banned Legos (2006) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#431

Post by cwkoss » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 2:19 AM UTC

geoduck14 wrote: post #354

cwkoss wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the resolution you would have preferred? The rules that resulted after returning the legos seem pretty mild and unobjectionable to me. Classroom legos are a shared collective resource. Do you think there should have been some sort of meritocracy instead? --- For those that didn't read the article, here are the resulting rules: - All structures are public structures. Everyone can use all the Lego structures. B…

>For those that didn't read the article, here are the resulting rules: I didn't read the whole thing. I read through the kids being jerks, then the the town was destroyed, then the teachers started running experiments on the kids. That was the part that really got me. Teachers running unsanctioned experiments to emotionally provoke my children. That is unacceptable

The "experiment" you're referring to is playing a game designed to be unfair, to start a conversation about fairness?

The vitriol people are projecting on such a benign game really makes me think society would be served well if many of the commenters here had participated in similar games as children themselves.

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#432

Post by TeeMassive » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 4:33 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #376

TeeMassive wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not aware of any genocides attributed to Cuba Communist regimes are known for the opacity and media suppression. It's not like they'll tell the whole world about it. And contrary to what is believed, Cuba is not totally sealed off the world and still relies on capitalism to survive (cigar, rum and tourism), which mainly prevented it from going full North-Korea. https://www.therichest.com/shocking/the-15-worst-a…

Batista also committed a lot of atrocities from a fairly capitalism-based position in collusion with Cuba’s wealthy landowners. Not that the previous regime excuses the current communist regime, but opacity, media suppression, and human rights violations are of course not exclusive to communism.

Except nobody is wearing Batista shirts.

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#433

Post by MattPalmer1086 » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 10:31 AM UTC

shkkmo wrote: post #422

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it wasn't teaching about capitalism explicitly, it says: "...the children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."

In my experience, it is far more common for people to take issue with the classism within out capitalistic society than with capitalism itself. Is is disheartening that any critique of power, class or ownership becomes synonymous with being anticapitalist. These seem like crucial topics to discuss if you want a well functioning capitalist society.

Agreed. Ironically I find many capitalists aren't really capitalists at all. They want socialism for the rich.

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#434

Post by devwastaken » Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 8:17 PM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #308

devwastaken wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teachers become teachers not out of passion for teaching but because it is the easiest path to go through if you follow the designed education system. Highschool pushes university hard, university pushes teaching, and teaching is a default path if you're scared of getting skills in anything else. I have met very few teachers whom have life experience outside of being a teacher, and it makes them mindless drones that,…

Youtube is not a good replacement for instructor led education because you need someone to be able to answer questions, select material, monitor pupil progress, identify weak areas and help improve them. This is not that dissimilar from someone thinking that businessmen don't need programmers because they could just cut out the middlemen and copy and paste from stackoverflow. It's not real analysis its a powerpoint p…

YouTube is singularly how high schoolers and college students pass most of their classes, because teachers are not competent instructors. Again, most of these things have gone online, with pre recorded videos being the focus. YouTube content creators simply do a better job at it because math, history, philosophy, etc teachers are poor presenters of information.

Compsci is a popular one where the concepts are far easier understood by a YouTube video than a smart board.

The ideas of what teachers do and what they actually do are entirely different. Teachers overwhelmingly are there to hand out assignments bought from a company. If you don't understand it, teachers don't care, it's keep up or drop out.

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#435

Post by spicybright » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 12:39 AM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #268

spicybright wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think close to no children thought this at the time. It's adults that wrote all of the fan fiction, supported the industry, etc. after.

Adults don't spring out of the ether fully-formed.

I didn't say or imply that. What point are you trying to make here?

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#436

Post by sangnoir » Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 1:11 AM UTC

D13Fd wrote: post #402

sangnoir wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have to learn to deal with conflict at some point. Some become conditioned into being doormats for the rest of their lives, just to avoid conflict. IMO, it's a very bad thing.

They become doormats when their parents deal with everything for them, not the other way around.

That's a very broad brush you're painting with, and I disagree with it. A lot of bullying victims cope by withdrawing, avoiding social contact in unfamiliar situations and going to great lengths to avoid conflict.

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#437

Post by cwkoss » Tue, Feb 22, 2022, 6:59 PM UTC

jerry1979 wrote: post #417

BaronVonSteuben wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could not agree with you more. That's what bothered me the most about the article. I consider myself a leftist as well and power dynamics are one of the main things that makes me so. I have a big dislike for most traditional power systems, especially where "power" is inherited (as wealth, but also just connected names that make you a celebrity just for being born). But if the "solution" to leveling out this power is…

I also feel a sense of injustice from unearned authority. The thing is, I like authority when it is earned: the authority of a surgeon in the operating room, the plumber under the sink, the accountant with their spreadsheet. I get the sense that they earned that authority because they already put in the hours and made the mistakes, and now they are ready to fill the space they exist in with competent decisions and we…

Do you think teachers have authority which is unearned, then?

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#438

Post by jerry1979 » Wed, Feb 23, 2022, 5:25 AM UTC

cwkoss wrote: post #437

jerry1979 wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also feel a sense of injustice from unearned authority. The thing is, I like authority when it is earned: the authority of a surgeon in the operating room, the plumber under the sink, the accountant with their spreadsheet. I get the sense that they earned that authority because they already put in the hours and made the mistakes, and now they are ready to fill the space they exist in with competent decisions and we…

Do you think teachers have authority which is unearned, then?

Their bewilderment made their authority seem unearned to me.

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#439

Post by kazinator » Wed, Feb 23, 2022, 5:30 AM UTC

jerry1979 wrote: post #417

BaronVonSteuben wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could not agree with you more. That's what bothered me the most about the article. I consider myself a leftist as well and power dynamics are one of the main things that makes me so. I have a big dislike for most traditional power systems, especially where "power" is inherited (as wealth, but also just connected names that make you a celebrity just for being born). But if the "solution" to leveling out this power is…

I also feel a sense of injustice from unearned authority. The thing is, I like authority when it is earned: the authority of a surgeon in the operating room, the plumber under the sink, the accountant with their spreadsheet. I get the sense that they earned that authority because they already put in the hours and made the mistakes, and now they are ready to fill the space they exist in with competent decisions and we…

Where should a parent go to earn the authority to prevent their three-year-old from climbing on the cabinets?

Re: Why We Banned Legos (2006)

#440

Post by kazinator » Wed, Feb 23, 2022, 5:48 AM UTC

ALittleLight wrote: post #45

I feel visceral disgust reading this article. It seems like the kids were playing with each other in a healthy way and the teachers interposed themselves to change how the kids were playing for political and ideological reasons. This is disgusting to me because I think it's analogous to physical abuse. A teacher hitting a child is bad not just because it's a violent crime, but also because children are especially vul…

It's understandable that the children who had the vision for Lego Town felt that their "grand" concept to make something large and enduring took precedence over the other kids just playing around with Lego.

All the adults had to do is get more Lego pieces so it didn't have to become a resource issue.

I'm thinking, what else are these adults going to be up to next? Have three picture books in the class, and when seventeen kids fight over them, take away picture books? And villify the ones who were seriously trying to learn to read for daring to think they should have preferred access to the books?