3 ms·

Very interesting point. I think a lot of people have had an experience where they felt as if they understood something but then after grappling with it they ga

Very interesting point. I think a lot of people have had an experience where they felt as if they understood something but then after grappling with it they gained a deeper understanding. I certainly think that the things I understand the most are things that I've spent time struggling with. But you're right that most things aren't like that. You can get a fantastic working understanding of most things simply by reading about them or being told about them. I suspect that both learning to struggle persistently and learning to integrate new knowledge that has been explained to you are important.

dahart 10y ago
Yes!! Maybe it's only the persistence and sticktuitiveness that is valuable, maybe the struggle is only necessary in its service toward not giving up. Not everyone is prone to giving up. And your insight on integrating new knowledge is, I think, directly relevant. My wife is educated in and practices child development, and her answer to the stoplight question is 'give a child the answer, and then relate it to other things they know.' She said the identifying of patterns and connecting of separate bits of knowledge is what's important, not the struggle of forcing them to derive it on their own. I'm also wondering if there are certain kinds of knowledge and/or values that struggling helps with. Perhaps certain phases of learning a topic. Or maybe it works on some people and not others. Or maybe mood and context make us receptive sometimes, and at others times we need it beaten into us. I really don't know, I just see that we tend to tell stories that struggle is always necessary, and I'm seeing lots of counter-examples, and starting to wonder if the struggle is sometimes counter-productive and more useful as a tool for some jobs than a dogmatic blanket generalization.

3 ms·

Very interesting point. I think a lot of people have had an experience where they felt as if they understood something but then after grappling with it they ga

by kybernetikos 10y ago

dahart 10y ago
Yes!! Maybe it's only the persistence and sticktuitiveness that is valuable, maybe the struggle is only necessary in its service toward not giving up. Not everyone is prone to giving up. And your insight on integrating new knowledge is, I think, directly relevant. My wife is educated in and practices child development, and her answer to the stoplight question is 'give a child the answer, and then relate it to other things they know.' She said the identifying of patterns and connecting of separate bits of knowledge is what's important, not the struggle of forcing them to derive it on their own. I'm also wondering if there are certain kinds of knowledge and/or values that struggling helps with. Perhaps certain phases of learning a topic. Or maybe it works on some people and not others. Or maybe mood and context make us receptive sometimes, and at others times we need it beaten into us. I really don't know, I just see that we tend to tell stories that struggle is always necessary, and I'm seeing lots of counter-examples, and starting to wonder if the struggle is sometimes counter-productive and more useful as a tool for some jobs than a dogmatic blanket generalization.