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That last paragraph would sound unpleasant if it replied to me. :) That poster can take solace that they're in good intellectual company: "In fact, I can remem

That last paragraph would sound unpleasant if it replied to me. :) That poster can take solace that they're in good intellectual company: "In fact, I can remember a lot about elementary school, the work I did, what I studied and so on. I remember virtually nothing about high school. It’s almost an absolute blank in my memory apart from the emotional tone, which was quite negative." — Noam Chomsky (https://chomsky.info/reader01/ https://chomsky.info/reader01/)

dalke 11y ago
I can see that interpretation. Let me try another way. I remember nothing about my government or human health class, very little about my sociology class, I try to forget everything about my senior year English class, and I took Spanish only because there was a state scholarship where part of the requirement was to take three years of a foreign language, instead of the state-mandated two years. I surely learned things in these classes. I've likely forgotten them because the contents didn't interest me enough. If I regard the brain as RAM, there was no refresh so the memories faded. Just like I remember very little now about most of my college classes. I took numerical analysis, thermodynamics, theater, psychology, database organization, and more, but I've forgotten them. Even my analysis course, where I remember I adored doing epsilon-delta proofs, has faded into all but emotional tones. I've also forgotten how to do PDEs, but knowing that technique saved my butt a few years later when I took the qualifying exam for physics. While I vividly remember my theory of automata course, my discrete math course, and a few others which are still so key to what I do every day. It seems I remember best the things I like, and the things which I still use. I can totally understand that someone who liked high school because of friends and getting high might only remember that part. That doesn't have to mean there was no learning, nor even that the learning wasn't useful. Only that it's no longer recallable.
theroy__jenkins 11y ago
I'm going to extrapolate a theory based on the following premise: unused memories fade. - The things you learn in elementary school are very fundamental and you probably use them often. - High school branches off from the fundamentals; I got straight A's in geometry, algebra, and calculus, yet I remember very little of them. I do remember everything I ever learned in my two CS classes (I am a programmer now). - The important thing about high school is not what you learn, but that it becomes possible for you to learn what you want/like to learn and do.

dalke 11y ago

I can see that interpretation. Let me try another way. I remember nothing about my government or human health class, very little about my sociology class, I try to forget everything about my senior year English class, and I took Spanish only because there was a state scholarship where part of the requirement was to take three years of a foreign language, instead of the state-mandated two years. I surely learned things in these classes. I've likely forgotten them because the contents didn't interest me enough. If I regard the brain as RAM, there was no refresh so the memories faded. Just like I remember very little now about most of my college classes. I took numerical analysis, thermodynamics, theater, psychology, database organization, and more, but I've forgotten them. Even my analysis course, where I remember I adored doing epsilon-delta proofs, has faded into all but emotional tones. I've also forgotten how to do PDEs, but knowing that technique saved my butt a few years later when I took the qualifying exam for physics. While I vividly remember my theory of automata course, my discrete math course, and a few others which are still so key to what I do every day. It seems I remember best the things I like, and the things which I still use. I can totally understand that someone who liked high school because of friends and getting high might only remember that part. That doesn't have to mean there was no learning, nor even that the learning wasn't useful. Only that it's no longer recallable.

theroy__jenkins 11y ago

I'm going to extrapolate a theory based on the following premise: unused memories fade. - The things you learn in elementary school are very fundamental and you probably use them often. - High school branches off from the fundamentals; I got straight A's in geometry, algebra, and calculus, yet I remember very little of them. I do remember everything I ever learned in my two CS classes (I am a programmer now). - The important thing about high school is not what you learn, but that it becomes possible for you to learn what you want/like to learn and do.