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so, this method is great for the outliers, kids like hawking or tony hawk - kids that are driven by themselves, don't need no guidance, help, discipline. there

so, this method is great for the outliers, kids like hawking or tony hawk - kids that are driven by themselves, don't need no guidance, help, discipline. there is a reason asian kids outperform others, and it's not montessori. and yes, school is about performance as kids will grow up and will need to be able to earn for a living. work, compete. school is optimized for the average kid with average parents. all the HN outliers don't apply. i would opt for full day schools in shitty areas, get the kids away from their parents as much as possible. off the street. teach them.

skewart 10y ago
I'm guessing the reason this is getting down-voted is because the article makes it pretty clear that the Berlin school's aim is to _teach_ kids to be motivated and disciplined. It provides a lot of structure along with opportunity cities for more self-directed learning. That aside, highly structured, rote memorization-only education may well help kids achieve the highest test scores, and it may well be the best way to prepare kids for middle management and clerical jobs - the kinds of jobs for which there has been great demand throughout the 20th century. It's not really clear that it does a great job of preparing kids for creative, academic, entrepreneurial or executive leadership roles. And it's certainly not clear that it is the best way to prepare kids for jobs - or ways to earn a living - that will be in demand throughout most of the 21st century.
- pinaceae 10y ago
  9bn people - and all of them will be entrepreneurs. there is a world outside of HN and there a lot of folks can barely finish high school.
  - socialist_coder 10y ago
    You are operating under the assumption that only exceptional children can learn motivation, self direction, and a genuine interest in learning. That is not true. As our society outsources more and more jobs to robots, those displaced workers need to be able to do more than just blindly follow directions. They don't have to start companies, but they do need to be able to think critically and have skills that are not replaceable by a robot.
    - tremon 10y ago
      It is true in a way, if you reverse the causality: children that learn motivation, self direction and interest building are better equipped to be (or become) exceptional.

skewart 10y ago

I'm guessing the reason this is getting down-voted is because the article makes it pretty clear that the Berlin school's aim is to _teach_ kids to be motivated and disciplined. It provides a lot of structure along with opportunity cities for more self-directed learning. That aside, highly structured, rote memorization-only education may well help kids achieve the highest test scores, and it may well be the best way to prepare kids for middle management and clerical jobs - the kinds of jobs for which there has been great demand throughout the 20th century. It's not really clear that it does a great job of preparing kids for creative, academic, entrepreneurial or executive leadership roles. And it's certainly not clear that it is the best way to prepare kids for jobs - or ways to earn a living - that will be in demand throughout most of the 21st century.

pinaceae 10y ago
9bn people - and all of them will be entrepreneurs. there is a world outside of HN and there a lot of folks can barely finish high school.
- socialist_coder 10y ago
  You are operating under the assumption that only exceptional children can learn motivation, self direction, and a genuine interest in learning. That is not true. As our society outsources more and more jobs to robots, those displaced workers need to be able to do more than just blindly follow directions. They don't have to start companies, but they do need to be able to think critically and have skills that are not replaceable by a robot.
  - tremon 10y ago
    It is true in a way, if you reverse the causality: children that learn motivation, self direction and interest building are better equipped to be (or become) exceptional.