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Request for Education Startups

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request for Education Startups

#161

Post by ankyth27 »

TarpitCarnivore wrote: post #29
ankyth27 wrote: post #17

A professional football player starts playing at the age of 4-5, a professional dancer starts practicing right from childhood, but I see most people only get interested in code when they need a job and they start fearing. Our education system should introduce problem solving and coding right from primary classes, teachers should be trained exclusively for these, and the big G, F and others should collaborate with gov…

I have to disagree entirely here. We shouldn't be forcing kids to learn a singular skill early on, but allowing them to explore all areas of interests.

Thanks for your viewpoint, I strongly believe that it sounds more logical. I was suggesting to learn problem-solving in the beginning and gradually progressing it to coding. Interschool/college code camps may take it from there. Exploring many areas of interest in the beginning years of life definitely has an advantage.

Re: Request for Education Startups

#162

Post by ankyth27 »

Kevin_S wrote: post #19
ankyth27 wrote: post #17

A professional football player starts playing at the age of 4-5, a professional dancer starts practicing right from childhood, but I see most people only get interested in code when they need a job and they start fearing. Our education system should introduce problem solving and coding right from primary classes, teachers should be trained exclusively for these, and the big G, F and others should collaborate with gov…

Disagree. Coding is one of hundreds of skills that can lead to a good career, and coding is absolutely not for everyone. Football/dance are extra-curriculars, I am all for coding being an option early on (high school?) but not anytime before then. If a kid shows an interest in coding, they'll find a way. And parents nowadays are more aware of it as a viable option Even if this seems worth it anyway, a teacher "traine…

I agree on the point that coding is not for everyone. But basic skills like problem-solving could help kids explore more things as well. I correct my point here and assert that like other extra-curricular activities, the impact of problem-solving should also and possibilities of what code can do, could also be taught at primary level. It could at least motivate some kids to pursue it further, so schools could play an important role in finding that motivation/interest. We don't need rockstar coders to teach fundamentals of programming, rather we should teach children how to learn and do basic handholding, and to guide them on the path ahead on either online courses or code camps. Thanks again for your viewpoint it was genuinely helpful and appropriate.

Re: Request for Education Startups

#163

Post by alexashka »

jamesrcole wrote: post #140
alexashka wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best teachers are absolutely not on the internet. How do you even make that claim? This is a typical 'technology is going to save the world' rant. No, it isn't. Technology is not a solution to short-sightedness that humans possess. Education is not in trouble - the economic model that makes it difficult to go study, learn and get to apply that knowledge and those skills to solving real problems is. Go ask enginee…

> The best teachers are absolutely not on the internet. How do you even make that claim? Personally, I have no idea where the best teachers are, but you don't make any attempt to back up your claim. > This is a typical 'technology is going to save the world' rant. No, it isn't. Technology is not a solution to short-sightedness that humans possess. First of all, the issue is never whether X will completely solve a pro…

Regarding teachers - it's up to the person making extraordinary claims to provide extraordinary evidence [0]. Even at a glance however - how many grade 1-5 teachers are on the internet at all, let alone best. It's pure statistics to know the claim is highly unlikely.

Thinking the best educators are on the internet is a lot like Americans who believe their country is the best country - it's an extreme form of short-sightedness. See how that fits so nicely into the rest of my post?

Regarding people becoming less short-sighted - I'd say next to nothing has changed. From the point of view of your life now versus 500 years ago, it's great. From the point of view of this planet and it's people as a whole - how many people did we kill among ourselves again in the last 100 years alone?

Didn't we nearly blow up the planet less than 50 years ago? We're far more monkey-brained than people who are smart and only associate with at least somewhat smart people like to believe.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot

Re: Request for Education Startups

#164

Post by hdctambien »

germinalphrase wrote: post #81
hdctambien wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, fixing the education of educators would be the best long term solution. Alternatively, creating a complete, ready-to-go curriculum package for every course (as defined in every state) that could be handed to anyone might be a startup-able solution to that problem. Although, that might also just be a patch that leads to a local maximum of not-very-good teachers teaching from better-than-before curriculum. Wh…

I believe there is opportunity in giving teachers better tools to teach as well as they are capable . Teaching is difficult enough from a personal performance and logistical standpoint that there is low hanging fruit in simply helping teachers be their best professional self. For example: I have approx. 200 high school level students. If I assign them to write one page I have just given myself 200 pages of assessment…

I completely understand. I teach AP Computer Science to about 100 students a year and I assign many Open Response questions which are solved by writing code by hand on paper. I grade these using the same rubric as the College Board which takes into account much more than "would it compile". For every hour of homework I assign my students, I assign myself double digit hours of grading.

Some AI + a pool of previously graded assignments could probably automatically pre-grade essays (or my open response questions) with comments and notations which would allow a teacher to skip the 100% correct papers, and focus on the hot-spots of the others. Automatically identifying plagiarism (via the internet and other students) would be a nice side effect, too.

Those kinds of solutions seem way more useful than Yet Another Gradebook/Attendance System or a Teacher->Parent Chat Room or even Distributed Tutoring Systems.

Re: Request for Education Startups

#165

Post by Balgair »

jansho wrote: post #138
shanev wrote: post #84

Naval Ravikant's tweetstorm today is highly relevant to this [1]: 1/ If the primary purpose of school was education, the Internet should obsolete it. But school is mainly about credentialing. 2/ Schools survive anti-educational behavior (i.e. groupthink) due to symbiosis between institutions that issue and accept credentials. 3/ Employers looking past traditional credentials can arbitrage the gap. @ycombinator made $…

Respectfully, I disagree with a lot of the points here. School isn't just about credentialing or dishing out information. You learn a lot about interacting with others, getting a social life, developing relationships with different people, discovering more about yourself and the list goes on. Even a bad experience is still an experience. I'm in the digital learning field and can get doe-eyed about the potential of te…

I think that there needs to be a delineation between undergraduate education and secondary/primary education. With undergraduate education, I think there is a good case to be made that it is about credentialing. Many undergrad students, just via the filter that is the admissions process, are capable and likely going to be tax-payers and not tax-users, so-to-speak.

For primary/secondary education, it is about education. However, it's not just math and history education, it's how to be an adult as well. School dances, sports, yearbook, school newspaper, etc. are all education for young adults just like knowing to let others finish their sentences, not using violence when frustrated, or that looking at porn in the stairwell is not a good way to woo your crush. Education is more of a socialization 'thingy' than a just knowledge one. As such, you need role-models, teachers, and mentors in your life, not on a screen that you can turn off when you don't like what they are saying. Education, in the HS time period of puberty, is not fit for a consumer model as it takes true sacrifice.

Re: Request for Education Startups

#166

Post by jamesrcole »

alexashka wrote: post #163
jamesrcole wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best teachers are absolutely not on the internet. How do you even make that claim? Personally, I have no idea where the best teachers are, but you don't make any attempt to back up your claim. > This is a typical 'technology is going to save the world' rant. No, it isn't. Technology is not a solution to short-sightedness that humans possess. First of all, the issue is never whether X will completely solve a pro…

Regarding teachers - it's up to the person making extraordinary claims to provide extraordinary evidence [0]. Even at a glance however - how many grade 1-5 teachers are on the internet at all, let alone best. It's pure statistics to know the claim is highly unlikely. Thinking the best educators are on the internet is a lot like Americans who believe their country is the best country - it's an extreme form of short-si…

> Regarding teachers - it's up to the person making extraordinary claims to provide extraordinary evidence

You should be telling yourself this, not me.

The other person claimed all the good teachers were online. Yes, we should ask for evidence for this. But did your original comment do that? It didn't.

Instead it made a claim that the good teachers are not on the internet. This is also making a spefific, very broad claim, which we should also ask for evidence for. Which is what I did.

It seems you're under the mistaken impression that the "neutral" stance, that doesn't require evidence is a claim like the one you made, that (if the original person's claim was X) "not X" is true. But the only stance that doesn't require evidence backing it up is the agnostic one of "I don't know where the best teachers are these days".

Re: Request for Education Startups

#167

Post by jakubp »

jansho wrote: post #155
jakubp wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You learn a lot about interacting with others, getting a social life, developing relationships with different people, discovering more about yourself and the list goes on." This. Very important, and this process is made much more effective if parents or teachers or other adults are with the young on that journey to coach them. Not easy to do online as you need to see the young people in their everyday interactions.…

I was referring to OP's eighth point, "the best teachers are on the Internet." Sorry if that was vague. Yeah schools aren't perfect either, but it's very hard to replicate the teacher role online. Peers yes, but I'll eat my hat if anyone can come up with a digital platform that allows students and teachers (totally strangers) to connect and build relationships that last for years. You might accidentally bump into a m…

Now that you wrote it, I feel like I was idealizing the online potential by thinking "you can get online to the right people", but that only helps if you can then meet them in person. Otherwise it's just online contact, which at scale may not be that awesome.

Re: Request for Education Startups

#168

Post by alexashka »

jamesrcole wrote: post #166
alexashka wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding teachers - it's up to the person making extraordinary claims to provide extraordinary evidence [0]. Even at a glance however - how many grade 1-5 teachers are on the internet at all, let alone best. It's pure statistics to know the claim is highly unlikely. Thinking the best educators are on the internet is a lot like Americans who believe their country is the best country - it's an extreme form of short-si…

> Regarding teachers - it's up to the person making extraordinary claims to provide extraordinary evidence You should be telling yourself this, not me. The other person claimed all the good teachers were online. Yes, we should ask for evidence for this. But did your original comment do that? It didn't. Instead it made a claim that the good teachers are not on the internet. This is also making a spefific, very broad c…

- The world' a hexagon

- What? No it isn't

- You haven't provided me evidence that it's not, so you can't...

- Um, ok, you're an idiot

That's the world I live in. I don't know about you.

Re: Request for Education Startups

#170

Post by cosinetau »

cosinetau wrote: post #169
peterburkimsher wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of maths, I'd like to see a cheaper TI-83. Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/768/

Do you mean wolfram alpha?

Or, whatever you know. You can reinvent the wheel for all I care. https://play.google.com/store/search?q=ti-83
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