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The only ways people learn important lessons from the past is by 1) being taught them by someone willing to teach it 2) overhearing someone else being taught it
by brianclements 11y ago
The only ways people learn important lessons from the past is by 1) being taught them by someone willing to teach it 2) overhearing someone else being taught it, or 3) reinventing the wheel and learning it yourself.
If 1 and 2 aren't happening, then you can't blame people for resorting to method 3. Perhaps some blame should go to teachers/curriculum, but bagging on people for what they don't know only creates frustration, not progress.
An example from the music world. I've taught the same "wisdom" about voice leading, what it is and why we like to use it, to both AP music theory students in high school as well as middle school band students learning to improvise. You can bet I change my analogies and vernacular to match their knowledge, but they've both been exposed to the concept and have some core vocabulary to research it further if they like.
- jacobolus 11y agoYou left off (0) doing your own research when you run into a problem. These days, with search engines, google scholar, google book search, Wikipedia, IRC channels full of folks trying to prove their knowledge, easy access to professors’ email addresses, etc., it’s easier than ever before.
- dikaiosune 11y agoIt's easier to be overloaded by the volume of information too.
- tcdent 11y agoIt is unfortunate, but it compliments cognitive decision making well; ingest information from multiple sources, identify outliers and inconsistencies, the truth will present itself.
- nickpsecurity 11y agoNot that simple. Usually leads to a local maxima that might not even be the maxima it appears to be. Really digging into all the sources of wisdom in our field takes a lot of time. Most only have a subset of that. So, expecting those with the wisdom to present it in an approachable and efficient-to-learn way is reasonable. Only then should we critique those that didn't make the effort to learn.
- voltagex_ 11y agoOr you disappear down the rabbit hole and you find that 9/10 of the tutorials / references you're reading are completely wrong or outdated. Seriously, I don't know if it's as bad in the network world, but I reckon PHP tutorials were the reason SQL injection was as prevalent as it was.
- cbd1984 11y agoYou run into a bootstrapping problem: The information you find first determines which information you see as credible later, so you might end up having to unlearn a lot of bullshit before you actually get up to speed. A good teacher will, if nothing else, get you over that hump and pointed in the right direction with the right instincts about who to listen to and which information is both correct and up-to-date.
- brianclements 11y agoFor knowledge and facts, I mostly agree. I would add that doing your own research is what you do while attempting method 3 and get stuck. But I think the article, and my original point, was about subject area wisdom. The larger lessons behind past failures, and the stuff that can save you unnecessary detours. There is much value in digging into a problem for a long time; you really do own it. But some things are just a waste of time to learn that way, and are better primed with the guidance of someone who can present that collective wisdom to you in a way in which you understand.
- guard-of-terra 11y agoSometimes teaching won't focus on failure modes that much. They might teach you intrisnics of some outdated technology as if it was alive and give no hints on why you no longer see any of it around. Pure waste of time. I had a course on IBM SNA like that.